Study shows many thousands of animals, especially toads, killed by road drainage ‘gullypots’ every year in Scotland

Amphibians in Drains - Written by Anna Taylor

September 2013. The final report of a three year project to investigate and prevent the deaths of animals falling into roadside drains has now been released. The ‘Amphibians in Drains Project' started in Perth and Kinross in Scotland in 2010, after countryside rangers and drain maintenance staff found that a significant number of gullypots contained small mammals and amphibians. 

Deathtraps

These gullypots are necessary for road drainage but act as death traps to animals, as they easily fall through the grid and cannot get out, either drowning or dying of starvation. Daniele Muir, a member of the Tayside Amphibian and Reptile Group and the driving force behind the project, explains how it all began: "On a walk with a friend and the dog I looked into a gullypot for no reason at all and saw it full of trapped animals. On the way home I rescued 80 frogs, toads and newts from 10 gullypots and carried them home (where I have a pond and there's a wetland area next door) in my jumper! I can't pass a gullypot without checking it for wildlife now."

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