Rare lizards delay flagship German rail project

Two rare breeds of lizard are delaying a prestige £5.9 billion rail project in southern Germany.

The high-speed line between Ulm and Stuttgart was set to be the latest jewel in the crown of an already impressive rail network, The Telegraph reports; that was until it was discovered that the land earmarked for the project was also the habitat of Lacerta agilis, or Sand lizard, and Podarcis muralis, two species of endangered lizards.

The lizards are protected by European Union environment law, which stipulates that certain wildlife that includes lizards must be rehomed before work can start a land needed for a project. Experts have been enlisted to find the lizards, and they have been picking their way through the grass armed with lassos on the end of poles trying to retrieve the creatures. According to one estimate, the bill for conservation will hit $13.7 million, around £1,825 per lizard.

Even rehousing the lizards has not been without controversy, as experts try to find a suitable new habitat. They need stones on which they can bask and sunbathe as well as sand in which to lay their eggs.

However the choice of Killesbert park, a bucolic area of fields and trees, has not proved popular with locals who have been incensed by plans to dump 15,000 tonnes of limestone onto what had been an untouched meadow.

The Telegraph