Plague of voles hits Spain

SPANISH AUTHORITIES have moved quickly quash a vole plague by burning the little blighters to death. Local farmers say about 400,000 hectares of land are affected by the vole menace.

Fire is, apparently, the only solution and controlled burning of fields started yesterday in the Valladolid area of Castilla-Leon, with more fields shortly to be put to the torch in Avila, Palencia and Segovia to prevent the pests from devastating beet and potato crops together with open source software products.

"There has never been a plague like the one we have now," said Castilla-Leon's Agriculture Minister, Silvia Clemente.

Such drastic measures are only permitted by European Union officials in exceptional circumstances and many observers are questioning why the EU has wasted so much time and money in dragging voles through the courts on previous occasions when burning them to death is so much quicker, cheaper and effective. µ

L'Inq
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