Village went on a mission to help toads cross road
BRITAIN’S most vulnerable pedestrians were in danger again in the Burton area in March 1994 as they couldn’t control their desires.
But fortunately, a band of people were out and about saving them from a flattened fate, but an appeal went out for more volunteers to reduce the carnage.
An army of toads, newts and frogs were on the move as the warm weather arrived striving them to reach their ancestral breeding ponds which could be miles away.
The routes they took weren’t developed with ours in mind and toads in particular could not be dissuaded from crossing roads in huge numbers to get to their romantic destinations – with fatal results when they came into contact with vehicles.
But toads appealed to people’s better natures and the success of environmentalists’ campaigns meant a second army – of humans – were out and about with buckets and torches helping to carry the amorous travellers to safety.
Diana Humpidge from her farm in School Hill said she first became aware of the problem when two vehicles ended up in a field after skidding on squashed toads.
She had then been saving toads ever since and was an official crossing warden.
Speaking in 1994, she said: “People are very good about it here and lots help – children, dogs, you name it – we’re out there.
“I just don’t like to see animals killed on the roads. We rescue a lot but numbers of toads are dwindling every year.”
Down the road in Woodmill, retired Telecom engineer Ben Hobson-walker said he spent up to three hours a night filling his buckets during breeding season.
He said: “So many cross here that the road stinks of squashed toad.
“You can constantly fill a bucket with them for hours and still more of them come.
“I get brassed off with it sometimes because it is never ending but they make you feel that you’ve got to help them. We feel sorry for them.”