British highway officials have ordered a couple barred from their home so that they can spend months crawling through the house looking for three-inch newts.Runoff from a highway caused a drainage ditch to overflow, flooding the £1 million Wiltshire home of Margie and John Histed. Afterward, not only would the agency not allow the couple to fix the ditch, but it evicted them until officials can comb every inch of it inspecting for the tiny but legally protected amphibians.
The inspection will take three months, but can’t begin for several months because of the possibility of disturbing newts while they are breeding. If any newts are found, it could take many more months to relocate them.
Recently, the government put a £15 million highway bypass in Leicestershire on hold and spent £1.7 million in order to relocate one single newt.
