New Zealand Exports a Pest
ew Zealand flatworms are a growing pest in Britain, and European bordercontrollers are anxious lest they spread to that continent. According to The Guardian newspaper, the European Union is discussing a ban on Britishbred plants to prevent the flatworms spreading. Three new species of flatworm have invaded Britain in the past four years, according to the newspaper's environment correspondent, Paul Brown. The flatworms ‘suck the life out of native earthworms, leaving moles and garden birds to starve.
Although flatworms have been found all over Britain, they are most common in the wetter west and north. The current fear is that more species will invade Britain with even more dire effects, particularly on English farmland which is warmer and drier than present habitats. Interestingly, while New Zealand has more than 100 species of native flatworm, our pastoral earthworms have been specially introduced. -Source: Dr W. D Sutcliffe, a Forest and Bird life member resident in Britain, who provided the clipping from The Guardian.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/FORBI20000501.2.17.2
Bibliographic details
Forest and Bird, Issue 296, 1 May 2000, Page 13
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167New Zealand Exports a Pest Forest and Bird, Issue 296, 1 May 2000, Page 13
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