As I said before if you deal with them cruelly, it's you that will face prosecution.

Its people like you that bring their kids up to think its ok to be cruel to an animal. Well done!

Will someone please shut this loon up? Do we have to report to moderator to get the link removed everytime its posted? Not been to the site but guessing it contains cruelty and harming animals so therefore not suitable to advertised on this family bbs as we are so often told about with other links posted?

At the moment societies such as the RSPB, RSPCA and CP are afraid of a cat owner/animal rights backlash if they speak out against the growing cat problem

Survey aims to curb wildlife road deaths.

MOTORISTS passing the remains of squashed wildlife are being urged to report their findings to Britain's first comprehensive nation-wide survey of animal road deaths. The year-long Mammal Society study, which started last week, will rely on volunteers reporting remains to help to discover what conditions account for the largest number of roadside casualties. Researchers hope that the results will be used to cut the death toll inflicted on British wildlife by road traffic. Hedgehogs, with their well-known lack of road sense, are killed in their thousands, although the exact numbers are unknown. It is also believed that 50 000 badgers, 100 000 foxes and at least 10 million birds become casualties every year. Lincoln Garland, a researcher based at Bristol University, is in charge of the survey. He said yesterday: "There really are huge numbers of animals being killed on the roads. The impact of hunting pales into insignificance when you compare it with how many die on the roads. "For some species where the population is low already the numbers killed on roads is particularly worrying." Highways Agency workers have agreed to help to record the toll on motorways and trunk roads where it would be too dangerous for other drivers to stop and examine dead animals. On lesser roads volunteers will be asked to stop and fill in a form when they spot dead mammals or birds of prey. Mr Garland said: "They will be asked to tick boxes on things like the surrounding habitat and whether it was on a bend. It shouldn't take too long. Animal road deaths tend to be concentrated in certain locations. We are hoping to find some sort of pattern to identify why animals are being killed in these concentrations. We also hope to get a better idea of the numbers of animals being killed. Everyone talks about the effects on hedgehogs. Some people do suspect that the numbers are declining but, as yet, we don't know exactly what the impact is." Anxiety about wildlife road deaths has spawned an array of devices designed to protect animals crossing the road. Hedgehog-lovers have been encouraged to adorn the front of their cars with devices that emit a high-pitched warning noise. Some areas with high otter populations have installed red light reflectors originally designed in Australia to help kangaroos to cross roads safely. The red triangles reflect light from the head-lamps of oncoming cars into the undergrowth and scare the animals away before they start to cross. Mr Garland hopes his survey will prompt more protective measures. He is particularly keen to find out how best to help the endangered barn owl (Tyto alba). Previous studies of the barn owl have suggested that as many as 5 000 are killed on the roads every year. Mr Garland said "Some local studies suggest that barn owls are killed in phenomenal numbers on relatively short sections of road. "With barn owls and other birds of prey, the problem might be that they follow hedgerows beside raised sections of road, so if they drift over they are too low to avoid cars or lorries. If that is the case, it might be possible to plant trees or shrubs to make them fly higher." Mr Garland is also keen to find ways to stop so many badgers being killed on the roads. "The problem with badgers is that they are so stuck in their ways," he said. "Once they have got a traditional route they like to stick to it. They will sometimes avoid badger tunnels, and use their great strength to rip up fencing. Then they will continue on their old route, even if it goes over a motorway. "Perhaps 50 000 badgers die on the roads every year, from a population of, very roughly, 300 000 to 400 000. We suspect that badgers can somehow maintain reasonable numbers even though a considerable proportion of them get killed every year." Foxes are also frequent casualties. Probably the most notable was Felix, the Downing Street fox, thought to have met his end in a collision with a car in the Mall near Buckingham Palace earlier this year. Mr Garland said: "Vehicles probably kill more foxes than anything else. Hunting accounts for about 10 000 a year nation-wide,. but in a way that's an insignificant number. We think about 100 000 foxes are killed on the roads every year." To participate in the survey contact Lincoln Garland, Mammal Research Unit, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1 UG.