Holy moley

It's been a busy one since last week's aquatic 1st aid course. Aside from the day job, I've:

• Spent a day mountainbiking at Gisburn Forest, riding the red and black graded "The Eight" route including the Slab and Hully Gully sections.
• Met with people at Creative International Adventures in Halifax and have agreed to work with them delivering the Duke of Edinburgh's Award in the Calderdale area.
• Brought colleagues on board at Leeds City College with my AspireCamp project. An outdoor activities residential retreat to encourage career planning and progression.
• Watched a couple of good films, 127 Hours and The Reader.
• Moved our house moving plans on a little, and
• Took a walk in the Yorkshire Dales where I came across this sorry sight.

Culling moles seems such an unecessary activity these days.

Update - 7/2/11

I've since read a bit more about the issue of culling moles and there are some sound reasons why culling occurs.

Mole hills can:

• Cause damage to farm equipment (eg. mowers)
• Cause contamination of silage with soil which reduces its nutritional value and can communicate diseases
• Encourage growth of thistles which reduces the nutritional value of the sward.

Justification is a different matter, I guess. Depends of on the scale of infestation/problem and whether alternatives exist. One of the sources I looked at had this to say:

"...while most farmers perceive Moles as pests, the damage which is attributed to them is slight on the great majority of farms. Control of Moles was none the less common and widespread..."

The question remains, in my mind, that if the damage attributed to moles (by farmers) is only considered slight, why the common and widespread culling? Maybe the damage is slight because of culling? Maybe logic is only part of the answer?

References -
http://tinyurl.com/4wdf5zh
http://tinyurl.com/497u5hx