Moles as you've never seen them before...

[tommo800]

Hi

I guess most people see moles only briefly as they poke their heads above the ground or as they 'scutter' away out of sight?
But while in the Pennines, on a road near Malham, I spotted a long section of fencing on onse side of the road with many rows of dried, shrivelled up moles hanging upside down off each wire.
I've never seen anything like that before and I'm just wondering if anybody knows why moles would be hanging there like that? Maybe to deter something or just to get rid of moles??

Regards
Tom

[paulchandler6]

Have seen similar before unfortunately. While out birding I came across a gamekeepers hut. Outside was hung all manner of wildlife, Moles, Stoats, Weasels, Grey squirrel etc and a few birds including a Sparrowhawk and some corvids.
A great shame.

Paul

[tommo800]

It's pathetic really, what these gamekeepers get up to.
Not only do they just kill these animals, but it's often in great numbers too, for example I'd say there were at least 100 moles up on that fence.
I mean, if they want to kill britain's wildlife then that's bad enough, but why hang them all on display?

I certainly couldn't say that it's something to be proud of: 'I've killed more moles than you'.

Regards,
Tom

[Dogwood]

When I was young just after the war and lived in the countryside, mole catchers used to do that with the moles they caught. I think as moles are difficult to trap it was a way of advertising that they were good at their job.

[Ukwildlifeo]

When I read the title my first taought was of a photo I saw of moles strung up on barbed wire. The moles will usually have the last laugh when the field they were shot in floods from lack of drainage - not sure that will happen in the Pennines

[nightshade]

Moles do cause consternation when they appear unexpectedly but killing them and displaying the pathetic little corpses is very sad,a throwback from the days when gamekeepers had to display dead "vermin" to justify their employment.In this day and age it is offensive and reprehensible that anybody could do this.

[naturelover]

the reason they do that is because they are proud to think how many they have killed,and they want to advertise it,i call it pathetic like little boys and their toys,i would like to hang them up on barbed wire by their ???????????????????????????/

[tommo800]

I certainly agree that killing loads of innocent creatures is nothing to be proud of. After all, what good does it do? I'm sure that when most people see the corpses they just think 'what a mess' and 'what a waste' and don't even start to think that the gamekeeper is 'good'.

[honeybee]

That's awful, sickening. I should think moles will be endangered soon. One rarely sees them(alive anyway). My cat caught one once, it was uninjured and she brought it into the house, we had to catch it and put it back in the field. apparently you shouldnt touch their noses as they're very sensitive. They're gorgeous little creatures. They can be detered if they're messing up your lawn but what harm are they doing in their natural habitat, none, just eating creepy crawlies ... sadly some people are just "if it moves, kill it"

[ron1863]

When I left school I worked as an apprentice greenkeeper on a local golf course that always had mole problems. We used to catch them and release them miles away.
One apprentice caught one, which got free but he quickly placed a grass box over it to trap it. When the boss arrived he asked how many we had caught. The apprentice, looking smug replied that he had one trapped under the grassbox, the boss started laughing and asked him to lift the box up. Of course the mole was long gone with just a hole and a small pile of earth to show.
We later employed a mole catcher who did all the golf courses in the area. He used worms soaked in poison, which I think was a dilute solution of either cyanide or arsenic, can't remember which, but it certainly worked.