Water voles left without anyone to pay for their upkeep could become the unlikeliest victims of the recession.
A building firm that moved the creatures from their Dartford home has now gone bust, leaving the charity being paid to look after them – Wildwood Trust – facing a shortfall of up to £14,000.If the money cannot be raised by the end of this month then the water voles will miss their breeding window, adding to the problems faced by Britain’s most endangered mammal.
Based near Canterbury, Wildwood animal park is home to a large number of creatures native to Britain including otters, badgers and wild boar.Chief executive Peter Smith told Kent on Sunday the funding crisis could mean disaster for the more than 40 water voles.
He said: “We could breed them at the park but it costs money, simple as that. We are a charity and we already have lots of other conservation projects going on that also need to be paid for.
“The recession has affected us all. We’ve already experienced reduced support through people cancelling their membership, but we really do need donations now to help these creatures.
“This country has spent millions digging up the river banks because we don’t want them to flood, but by changing them to how we want them and not how nature intended we have virtually wiped the water vole out across the country. It’s a beautiful little animal and I think we all have a responsibility to protect it.”
The water voles were moved from their home in Dartford to protect them while a new housing development is being built there.As part of the project to release them back into the wild, Wildwood needs to pay £25 per vole on mandatory lab tests before they can do so.
They also need to spend £100 on a special release cage to stop the creatures being killed by foxes and mink, as well as £5 per week on feeding a family and £10 per vole for special radio microchips that will allow the charity to monitor how successful the release is next year.
Mr Smith said: “It’s a bit of a scam passing the liability of these water voles onto us but there’s nothing we can do. We’re stuffed.“We have to get them back out into the wild so they can breed, otherwise they will just die out.”Visit www.wildwood.workwithus.org/donate to aid Wildwood’s water vole appeal.
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