Author Topic: Cruelty to Slugs & Snails (Read 17271 times)

Spurdie · « **on:** July 10, 2004, 09:51:07 »

Have just been watching the news - apparently there's to be new laws against cruelty to animals. Fair enough. But this includes cruelty to SLUGS AND SNAILS!!! :o
I hope slug pellets and beer traps aren't going to be outlawed! I'd have no garden left!

Palustris · « **Reply #1 on:** July 10, 2004, 12:01:04 »

Gone will be the pleasure of hearing them scream when you pour salt all over their slimy bodies.
And what about squishing vine weevil grubs between ones thumb and forefinger? Or throwing cutworms to the hens? Or taking the top off the ants nest so the blackbirds and robins can get at the eggs? All definitely cruel and heartless things to do.
AND what about those 'humane' mole traps which kill the same number of moles as the instant death ones?
AND Warferin for rats, surely that is cruel, to give them poor innocent creatures a chemical which causes them to bleed to death from normal internal bleeding?
I could go on. but my heart is full of man's treatment for our little friends. prrrrrrrrrrrrp!!!!!!!

feet of clay · « **Reply #2 on:** July 10, 2004, 14:54:28 »

I've never knowingly killed a slug or snail. I don't use bug spray and rodents are deterred from becomig too comfortable in the house by use of a sonic device - it upsets their feeding pattern and they move on.
Saturday is tomato day - they get fed and fondled - and I noticed that my little army of ground-based slug killers was getting bigger. Lots and lots of little frogs are based in and around the greenhouse and I havent seen a slug for weeks. As I feed the birds all year, they hang around the garden and bash the bugs for me. It's a lot cheaper to feed the birds than to buy slug pellets - and my Karma us unharmed.

Spurdie · « **Reply #3 on:** July 10, 2004, 21:32:22 »

Hi, FOC!

How do you manage to have frogs in your garden? Do you have a pond?

I have a friendly song thrush that bangs snails against the gate. Does this not qualify as "cruelty to snails" ;)? Sadly it is no match for the HUGE brown snails (about 2" in diameter) that demolish my delphiniums and hollyhocks. How do you keep control of them?

Steven · « **Reply #4 on:** July 10, 2004, 21:54:13 »

I used to have a real problem with slugs and snails where they would strip almost everything in the garden.Now that all of the shrubs have matured,the Thrushes and Blackbirds go mad under the them hunting the snails/slugs.I too have frogs in the garden and dont have a pond.They seem to be happy living under the Mexican orange blossoms i have where the soil is permanetly damp.These with the birds have totally decimated the slimy pests population to a point where you would be hard pushed to find one alive!

My slug pellets have remained in the shed,un-used for couple of years now. ;D

sarahr · « **Reply #5 on:** July 11, 2004, 19:39:35 »

so are they going to be prosecuting animals for be cruel or is it just humans that get the short shrift? ???
All I can say is they've got to catch me and my salt first. ;D I'd like to see them with their powerful satellites watching me kill slugs from space. :D

Roy Bham UK · « **Reply #6 on:** July 11, 2004, 20:37:08 »

For those that haven't read it click on these links ::)

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=VG3SD5RAGXWSDQFIQMGSM54AVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2004/07/11/nslug11.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/07/11/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=43549

www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/07/11/dl1102.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2004/07/11/ixopinion.html

Edited to say, for some reason I can't get these links to work properly so copy paste the full text and see how you get on. Roy

Steven · « **Reply #7 on:** July 11, 2004, 20:57:39 »

Me thinks this is taking animal welfare too far!

Good god-what next? Campaigners claiming aphids have feelings...

TrailRat · « **Reply #8 on:** July 11, 2004, 21:12:26 »

Saw a hedgehog crushing a huge snail the other day, i'd say that it was about 2" (the snail not the hedgehog). Just stood on the shell and crunch. Quite impressive as I didn't know they had the strength.

TrailRat

gavin · « **Reply #9 on:** July 11, 2004, 21:24:03 »

Don't panic, peeps - just a moment's thought!

Where would this leave the GM stuff? And the pesticide manufacturers? Good God - they might even have to take themselves seriously for once, and ban hunting!

And what about fishing!!! Eating meat!!!!!! Factory farming!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey - and all the various household fly-sprays!!!!!!!!

Methinks (mehopes?), somebody is having a neat little wind-up?

All best - Gavin

aquilegia · « **Reply #10 on:** July 12, 2004, 09:42:02 »

Do you think it would be cruel to leave slugs and snails in a big box with vaseline up the sides for the thrushes to find them? ;D

eileen · « **Reply #11 on:** July 12, 2004, 12:20:49 »

NAH!!!!!!! Go to it Aqui. ;D

Eileen.

Bionic Wellies · « **Reply #12 on:** July 12, 2004, 15:58:51 »

And what about building sites and road building - can't dig a hole with a JCB without pulping a poor defenceless slug can you - Sodding daft politicians.

Even if its not true, its indicitive of the general public's opinion of MP's that we actually believe they are capable of considering such a law!

Suppose we could be incarcerated for slugicide!

Doris_Pinks · « **Reply #13 on:** July 13, 2004, 16:59:55 »

Well slap the handcuffs on me...cos today I murdered over 100 large ones (stopped counting at 56!)! with a strange gleeful feeling! This lovely damp weather has bought them all under my carpet paths, but they were not there for long! (Evil laugh!)

feet of clay · « **Reply #14 on:** July 13, 2004, 20:56:00 »

I do have a nice big wildlife pond - put in about three years ago. It's full of reedmace and other big plants (plus my dogs) and I'm delighted with 'my' dragonflies and notice I have a healthy population of pond snails that arrived on their own. When the pond was being dug, the digger hit the water main and it looked like the Palace of Versailles! The wagtails then moved in and claimed the mud as theirs! I had frogs and toads before I had the pond but seem to have even more now. I have bunnies too - hundreds of them. If something has a hard time surviving here then I don't bother growing it again. (The bunnies are surviving very well)

Val · « **Reply #15 on:** July 14, 2004, 11:00:57 »

;D Hi Spurdie, just think all the garden police walking around, watching for signs of slugicide, will they have an inquiry as to how they die, murder, slug slaughter, or natural demise.Hmm does that mean we'll all get a police record? ???

TrailRat · « **Reply #16 on:** July 14, 2004, 18:12:11 »

I hope not Val, i'm on already in their bad books for speeding. And I can't even drive or own a car. :-\

TrailRat

Spurdie · « **Reply #17 on:** July 14, 2004, 20:00:00 »

Hi Trailrat
How on earth did you manage to get done for speeding? On you bike???

TrailRat · « **Reply #18 on:** July 14, 2004, 20:02:39 »

I'm afraid so Spurdie and this not a motorbike either.

TrailRat

Spurdie · « **Reply #19 on:** July 14, 2004, 20:14:23 »

Is yours a supercharge penny farthing then?

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Author Topic: Cruelty to Slugs & Snails (Read 17271 times)