Germans banned from killing ants

Google | 4-29-03

[WKB]

Ananova:

Germany has introduced new laws making it illegal to kill ants and appointed 85 ant protection officers to protect the insects.

Homeowners and gardeners who attempt to destroy an anthill or underground nest will face hefty fines if caught.

They must now apply for a permit from their local forestry office to have the ants carefully moved to local woods.

"People with an ant hill in their garden must under no circumstances resort to the use of poison," said senior ant protection officer Dieter Kraemer.

"This is a violation of federal nature protection laws and punishable with hefty fines."

He added that ants were highly valued by German foresters for eating insects which attack trees.

A high ant population can prevent costly and environmentally unfriendly woodland spraying aimed at pests such as the Nun moth which attacks pines and other conifers.

[honeygrl]

"The logic of this argument doesn't follow. If there is a deer in your yard can you kill it for whatever reason you want?"

Surely a deer and an ant aren't the same in your mind? It's not just a difference of size. If there is an insect on my property that I don't want on my property it has a very good chance of dying. I don't care if it's one of those huge bird killing spiders or a tiny little Aphid. They are insects. They don't have rights. And you know what? I've shot at quite a few deer in my life too. Did the government care what my reasons were for shooting it? Nope. They only cared about the little $10 hunting liscense. So I guess I could shoot at a deer for whatever reasons I want.

[Consort]

[Interesting Times]

Thank you for that disturbing, yet strangely compelling account.

I hesitate to ask about the other two tribes, and yet...

[Revolting cat!]

Well, ants are people too!

[liberalnot]

let's send them some of our argentine ants, called sugar ants elsewhere.

they eliminate other ants and become a damn nuisance, costing homeowners and businesses millions of dollars.

they form continuous colonies for hundreds of miles, thinking that they're all of the same ant pile. therefore, they do not fight each other, but eliminate their competitors.

they're small, 1/8 of an inch.

[Malsua]

Ok, Illegal to kill.

How about "humanely relocating?"

Whenever I find an ant colony and don't have gasoline handy for an ant barbeque, I get the shop vac.

Works wonders. They get relocated to a nice habitat inside the shop vac. Works great for flies too.

Sometime I break out the wife's little vac and relocate them into a paper bag that then gets relocated to a landfill where they can run free!

[WKB]

I am going to take this thread and write a book about getting rid of ants.

[Nick Danger]

[knighthawk]

Watch it with the rediation. I used that on my ant colony and they grew very large. They are now on their way to wreck some city.

[null and void]

We're WAY ahead of you...

[Mr. Mojo]

Too bad the Germans weren't as adamant about the poison gas that Saddam used in Iraq against his own people.

Killing people is (obviously) not verboten to them.

[gd124]

It's from Ananova, which is slightly more reliable than The Onion and slightly less reliable than Pravda.

[F16Fighter]

And in a related story of one-upsmanship, Chiraq has declared, "maggots will now become both a protected animal resource of France, and the new icon of French leadership and courage throughout the world."

[WKB]

And if that doesn't work snails will be tried next for their spinal superiorty!

[RansomOttawa]

[BSunday]

ROTFLMAO.

[A. Patriot]

But it IS ok to use Zyklon B on them.