A bridge for mice
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What has big shiny, black eyes and small, rounded ears, a cute fluffy tail and ….a suspension bridge?? The answer is a dormouse in Britain. The charming little rodent has a new way to cross the main road in the form of a $ 250,000 bridge over a highway in South Wales. Host Marco Werman speaks with Robert Jones Parry, the conservation manager of the Wildlife Trust of South Wales. Download MP3
Bridge for dormice near Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf,Wales
Dormice live in trees as opposed to on the ground, their routes have to stretch between trees
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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. So it has a chubby build. And a bright golden-brown color with creamy-white underparts. The little fellow has big shiny, black eyes and small, rounded ears and a cute fluffy tail. And now it has a suspension bridge. What are we describing? It’s a dormouse in South Wales. The charming little rodent has a new way to cross the main road in the form of a $250,000 bridge over a highway in South Wales. The bridge is an exclusive pathway for the sleepy creatures to safely cross the road. Robert Jones Parry is the conservation manager of the Wildlife Trust of South Wales. So, Robert, why do dormice need a suspension bridge?
ROBERT JONES PARRY: Dormice need a bridge ‘cause quite simply they can’t cross roads.
WERMAN: And do they not run fast enough? Have there been a lot of dormice killed along this highway?
PARRY: Well, dormice live almost entirely up in the trees, so they don’t come to the ground at all. It’s now so much that they’ll get run over, it’s just they simply wouldn’t attempt to cross the road in the first place.
WERMAN: Well, if they live in trees, I know this sounds like a bad riddle, why does a dormouse have to cross the road?
PARRY: Because we have decided to put a road through their habitat. And what that does is isolate the dormice. So all of a sudden this one big population of dormice can no longer breed and then what happens then? Is it the population becomes smaller and smaller and smaller? The bridge is the only option we’ve got.
WERMAN: Alright, so I think you need to describe this bridge for us. This quarter million dollar suspension bridge. It’s probably not like the George Washington Bridge in New York. It’s probably more like a catwalk that connects trees. Can you explain how the whole thing works?
PARRY: It’s basically a series of thick ropes and they are housed in a metal mesh. And the reason for that is that, of course, if you just have ropes from one tree to another tree across the road, there’s gong to be a huge amount of sway and that’s going to be pretty dodgy for a little rodent trying to cross that.
WERMAN: I think the children’s writer Beatrix Potter mentioned dormice. What are they exactly?
PARRY: It’s a wonderful little rodent that spends a third of its life actually asleep. So, it will be hibernating now in the next couple of months. Maybe October it will fall asleep. And that’s actually the only time where they come to the ground. They make a little nest and then they will stay in hibernation there until April of the following year.
WERMAN: I imagine the dormouse is a totemic animal for the people of South Wales. But they’ve also been critical of this project. Some have called it obscene.
PARRY: Well, of course, the road’s development itself has cost absolutely millions and the amount put towards dormouse mitigation is just a fraction of the overall cost. And I’m lucky enough to live and have grown up in South Wales and I think the people of South Wales should be extremely proud of the fact that despite all its industrialization and all its intensive agriculture that came after that, we’ve still managed to keep hold of the dormouse. This extremely rare animal is still here with us. I think it’s so important that as a nation, if you like, that we look after these animals and do whatever we can to support them.
WERMAN: Well, listeners, if you’d like to see a photograph of the dormouse suspension bridge in South Wales, come to TheWorld.org. Robert Jones Parry is the conservation manager of the Wildlife Trust of South Wales. Thanks so much for your time, Robert.
PARRY: Thank you.
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