IT IS GETTING WORSE

Invasion of foreign flowers and plants is costing Britain £2bn a year

By Fiona Macrae

They are taking over our waterways, hunting down our native animals and spreading disease.

So fearsome is the invasion of foreign plants, animals and insects that combating it costs Britain £2billion a year, the Government said yesterday.

This includes £3million for clearing weeds which clog up canals, rivers and ponds, trapping litter and starving fish of oxygen.

Also included is the cost of controlling and eradicating foreign pests and predators, rebuilding damaged habitats and the losses to farming and fishing industries.

The situation is likely to get worse as warming temperatures make Britain a haven for even more unwanted foreign pests.

The threat to the countryside - and the economy - is so great that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has launched a strategy aimed at stopping the invaders in their tracks.

Problem species will be monitored as they spread across Europe and import bans will be put in place to stop them reaching our shores.

In addition, better coordination between Government departments and wildlife charities is being encouraged to ensure those that do sneak through the defences are quickly rounded up and wiped out.

More than 3,000 non-native species have already made Britain their home, placing some of our best-loved wildlife in jeopardy.

The water vole - often associated with the character Ratty in Wind in the Willows - is Britain's fastest declining native mammal.

In 1990, there were seven million living on the banks of rivers and canals. By 1998, their numbers had dropped to fewer than one million and are continuing to fall. They are hunted by American mink which have escaped from fur farms, while changes in farming have led to the destruction of their habitats.

Meanwhile, red squirrels are fighting a losing battle against grey squirrels introduced from North America around a century ago.

Bigger and stronger than the native reds, the greys carry a virus which does them no harm but can kill reds within two weeks.

Plantlife is also at risk, with warnings that the British bluebell could disappear within a decade.

The bluebell is under threat of being squeezed out by a hardy hybrid - a cross between the native bluebell and a Spanish cousin introduced to British gardens more than 300 years ago.

Other foreign plants over here include Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed, floating pennywart, Himalayan balsam, Australian swamp stonecrop and parrot's feather.

Foreign fish pushing out native species include the Chinese mitten crab, the American signal crayfish and the topmouth gudgeon - a Japanese fish carrying a deadly infection that threatens to wipe out stocks of salmon and trout.

Some invasive plants and animals even pose a risk to human health.

For instance, the sap of giant hogweed can produce painful blisters, while the hairy caterpillar of the oak processionary moth can cause deadly allergic reactions.

In all, there are thought to be more than 3,000 non-native species in the wild in Britain, with some 2,721 in England alone, of which two-thirds are plants.

Environment minister Jeff Rooker said that for the first time the Government had a coordinated plan to tackle the problem.

This includes educating the population on the dangers of such species and a web-based directory showing which invasive plants and animals are found where and how they spread.

Grey squirrels dont blow them selves in the underground

Muslims do

The American mink do not blow themselves up on buses
Muslims do

The Chinese mitten crab does not prowl the streets in gangs looking for violence

Muslims do
The American signal crayfish do not gang rape women or groom young school girls for sex
Muslims do

Some invasive plants and animals even pose a risk to human health.

Oak processionary caterpillars
They are gregarious, present from April to early July, and are greyish black, covered with long whitish hairs. They feed mainly at night, sheltering in silk webbing during the day. The hairs on the caterpillars’ bodies readily break off and can cause allergic skin rashes and irritation to the eyes and throat in people, cats, dogs and horses that can be severe.

Boat loads of muslims bringing Tuberculosis which is far more deadly than allergic skin rashes and irritation to the eyes and throat

The Spanish Bluebell is introduced in the United Kingdom, where it has become an invasive species. The species hybridise freely, and the resulting hybrid and the Spanish Bluebell produce highly fertile seed and can invade areas of the native Common Bluebell.


The bottom line is that the UK is changing profoundly not only the invasion of foreign flowers and plants but also to immigration of muslims

DP111, an articulate British commentator at such websites as Jihad Watch, Little Green Footballs and Fjordman blog, points out that as Muslim families are very large, a single wage earner will find it hard to support all. They will need to supplement this by getting considerable benefits from the state. Thus at a minimum, "some 80% of the Muslim population" subsists on welfare benefits: "A considerable amount of this money to Muslims from the British taxpayer, finds its way to finance the Jihad. The same scenario must hold in all European states that have a considerable Muslim population." "We are in the ridiculous position of sheltering and feeding a population that is hell bent on destroying us. Islam's people, from the very outset, were nothing but a collective to gain plunder and loot at the expense of other people's work. In the past, it was conducted by war, conquest and then pillage. Now it is conducted by immigration (invasion), begging or crime. Meanwhile Muslim nations are given huge loans (aid), which we and they know will never be repaid. Thus, from a purely economic point of view, Islam seems to be a collective of people who live by the ethos of "beg, borrow or steal." So why do we, the capitalist countries, who do not believe in offering anyone a free lunch, subsidise the most lazy yet aggressive bunch of people on God's planet, who are bent on subverting our democratic system? The nub is, how has it come about, that the natural progression of the most advanced civilisation on earth is towards stupidity?"

He also points out that the cost of Muslim immigration is much higher than just welfare. "One really needs to factor the loss of confidence in the markets, loss of new investment because of a fear of flying or the disenchantment with intrusive security. Then there is the increased cost of insurance on all businesses." All this affects the competitivess of business with nations that do not have a significant Islamic presence, such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan. We may be talking of million dollars or more per Muslim individual per year. "And to top it all, we give them huge amounts of aid, welfare benefits on a grand scale, while we live in fear, and our freedoms compromised."