What is a Mole?

[camies 1]

Hello All.

This is not a trick, a joke, or me being a smart Alec.

 

I was asked by a potential customer if a mole was vermin or a pest. Confused me as I thought they were the same so, my first reaction was to say that it was vermin BUT, being the cautious type I did some "digging" (if you'll forgive the pun) and found a bit of confusion in it's actual status.

Some pest control firms and colleges class it as vermin or list it under pest control. No help there.

When I asked Defra they referred me to Natural England. They are thinking about it. (No hurry there then.)

 

Is vermin the same as a pest? if it is, then the following applies.

Agriculture Act 1947 (c. 48) calls it a pest and lists it as:-

Prevention of damage by pests The animals to which this section applies are rabbits, hares and other rodents, deer, foxes and moles,

Pest Act 1954 Section 8 does not apply to break-back traps designed and used to catch small mammals (e.g. rats and mice) or the type commonly used for taking moles in their runs as these are made an exception under the Small Ground Vermin Traps Order 1958.

The Small Ground Vermin Traps Order 1958 and the various Spring Traps Approval Orders, refer to "small ground vermin". Neither the orders nor the Pests Act 1954, under which they are made, define this term or provide an exclusive list of species. However, the following animals are listed under various orders: moles, Grey squirrels, rabbits, mink, stoats, weasels, rabbits, rats, and mice.

 

Now very confused :unsure: I turned to the Oxford dictionary.

 

1/ pest noun. a destructive animal that attacks crops, food, or livestock.

2/ vermin noun. vermin are wild mammals and birds which are harmful to crops, farm animals, or game, or which carry disease.

 

We all know that a mole can affect crops and pasture and can cause physical harm (trip hazard) to animals so both apply.

So, I'm still pretty well confused and ask your no "Bull Sh**" opinion. Is it vermin, a pest, or does pest and vermin mean the same thing when applied to the Mole?

 

Thanks

[john b 38]

Here you go, it was a Parlimentary Question in October 2003. I read this that a mole is NOT vermin

 

HL Deb 08 October 2003 vol 653 c60WA 60WA

Lord Selsdon

asked Her Majesty's Government:

 

Which mammals and other animals are classified as "vermin". [HL4559]

 

Lord Whitty

There is no definition of the term "vermin" in UK law. In such a situation the Oxford Dictionary definition should be applied.

 

The Oxford Dictionary defines "vermin" as "Animals of a noxious or objectionable kind. Originally applied to reptiles, stealthy, or slinky animals, and various wild beasts; now, excluding in US and Australia, almost entirely restricted to those animals or birds which prey upon preserved game…"

 

The Small Ground Vermin Traps Order 1958 and the various Spring Traps Approval Orders, refer to "small ground vermin". Neither the orders nor the

Pests Act 1954

, under which they are made, define this term or provide an exclusive list of species. However, the following animals are listed under various orders: moles, grey squirrels, rabbits, mink, stoats, weasels, rabbits, rats, and mice.

 

Traps approved under the Spring Traps Approval Order 1995 do not apply to small ground vermin listed in Schedules 5 and 6 to the

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

. This means that red squirrels, dormice, water voles, shrews, hedgehogs, polecats and a number of other species are excluded.

 

 

Source:

Hansard - Parlimentary written answers

 

[TOMO 24,911]

its an insectivore

[EskdaleHawks 8]

its an insectivore

Not quite true as there is evidence that they will not only kill but also eat mice that stray in to the tunnels. Their main food though is worms and inverabates.

[TOMO 24,911]

its an insectivore

Not quite true as there is evidence that they will not only kill but also eat mice that stray in to the tunnels. Their main food though is worms and inverabates.

 

they will also eat there own kind , but they are still insectivore's

[EskdaleHawks 8]

its an insectivore

Not quite true as there is evidence that they will not only kill but also eat mice that stray in to the tunnels. Their main food though is worms and inverabates.

 

they will also eat there own kind , but they are still insectivore's

Part-time insectivors!!

[ellir0305 9]

its an insectivore

Not quite true as there is evidence that they will not only kill but also eat mice that stray in to the tunnels. Their main food though is worms and inverabates.

 

they will also eat there own kind , but they are still insectivore's

Part-time insectivors!!

 

 

like them vegetarians that eat fish

[zig zag wanderer 0]

its an insectivore

Not quite true as there is evidence that they will not only kill but also eat mice that stray in to the tunnels. Their main food though is worms and inverabates.

 

they will also eat there own kind , but they are still insectivore's

Part-time insectivors!!

 

No they're hypocrites.

[camies 1]

Got fed up waiting for Natural England to get back to me in answer to is a mole vermin or a pest.

So, found this:-

Agriculture Act 1947 (c. 48)

 

Pest and weed control

 

Prevention of damage by pests

 

(1)If it appears to the Minister that it is expedient so to do for the purpose of preventing damage to crops, pasture, animal or human foodstuffs, livestock, trees, hedges, banks or any works on land, he may by notice in writing served on any person having the right so to do require that person to take, within such time as may be specified in the notice, such steps (including such steps, if any, as may be so specified) as may be necessary for the killing, taking or destruction on land so specified of such animals or birds to which this section applies as may be so specified or the eggs of such birds.

 

(2)A requirement shall not be imposed under the last foregoing subsection if apart from this subsection the killing, taking or destruction in question would be prohibited by law:

 

Provided that a requirement may be so imposed to kill or destroy game within the meaning of the M1Game Act 1831, at a time of year at which apart from this proviso the killing or destruction would be prohibited by section three of that Act; and for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection a person shall not be deemed not to have the right to comply with a requirement falling within this proviso by reason only that apart from this proviso compliance therewith would be prohibited as aforesaid.

 

(3)Section four of the M2Prevention of Damage by Rabbits Act 1939 (which allows the use in rabbit holes of poisonous gas, and the placing in rabbit holes of substances generating poisonous gas by evaporation or in contact with moisture) shall apply to the use of such gas and the placing of such substances in any hole, burrow or earth for the purpose of killing animals to which this section applies.

 

(4)The animals to which this section applies are rabbits, hares and other rodents, deer, foxes and moles, and the birds to which this section applies are, in relation to any area, wild birds other than those [F1included in the M3First Schedule to the Protection of Birds Act 1954] as it applies in that area whether by virtue of the terms thereof . . . F2 or by virtue of an order of the Secretary of State; and this section shall apply to such other animals as may be prescribed:

 

Provided that regulations under this subsection may provide that for the purposes of subsection (3) of this section any such other animals specified in the regulations shall not be treated as animals to which this section applies.

 

In a nutshell, a mole is a PEST!