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The drive to rip out pennywort and kill killer shrimps may be harsh, but human intervention in nature is sometimes necessary
The Killer Shrimp sounds like Monty Python's take on King Kong, but Dikerogammarus villosus is no joke, especially for smaller natives of Britain's inland waterways. Its predatory appearance in a Welsh reservoir and a lake near Cambridge could signal a crustacean version of the grey squirrel disaster. The same applies to the floating pennywort, water primrose and zebra mussel, for all their prettier names. The quagga mussel, notorious for blocking water pipes and lock gates, is also advancing across Europe from the Black and Caspian seas. All power then to the government's campaign launched this week to deter and, if possible, eradicate these bullying forms of plant and wildlife. Practical work on the ground is getting glitz, of a sort, from appeals by Olympic rowing heroes for canoeists and anyone else messing about in fresh water to take precautions against the unwitting transferral of eggs, larvae or plant fragments. Check, Clean, Dry is the name of both the campaign and the three simple measures to take. Sceptics will point to the squirrels, Australia's rabbits and other unstoppable examples of Darwinism in action; but humanity can intervene to good effect in nature, alongside all our detriment. There would be no red squirrels in Cockermouth without the trappers and marksmen deployed against the greys. The same applies to the drive to rip out pennywort and kill killer shrimps. Harsh measures, indeed; but natural selection has never had a name for being kind.
