New Zealand's giant snails lose a battle with miners,

By David Barber Apr 12, 2006, 6:30 GMT

Wellington - New Zealand's giant snails - descendants of creatures that slithered across the ground on Gondwanaland 200 million years ago - are on the move, ousted from their traditional home on a South Island mountain by coal miners.

Conservation Minister Chris Carter - who calls the meat-eating giants as a big as a man's fist the 'sumo wrestlers of the snail world' - gave the OK for their removal on Wednesday, bowing to demands of the state-owned energy company that wants the 5 million tons of coal underneath their native habitat.

He snubbed conservationists who mounted a vigorous Save the Snails campaign and the advice of his own officials, saying, 'We have a legal responsibility to consider more than just the welfare of the snails.'

Carter said the government was bound by law to consider the economic benefits that flow from the efficient development and use of New Zealand's coal resources and the coal on the Stockton Plateau, near Westport, was of 'considerable value' to the nation.

He ordered the Solid Energy company to move the 250 rare native snails known to be in the area - the only place in the world where they exist - by hand and relocate them far from coal mines.

Before mining starts, the company must transfer their existing terrain to recreate an area for the snails 'that is as close as can reasonably be achieved to the old habitat' and protect them with a predator proof fence.

But Frances Mountier, spokeswoman for conservationists fighting the proposed open-cast coal mine, said, 'Chris Carter has bowed to pressure from Solid Energy and signed off on New Zealand's first state-sponsored species extinction.

'Scientific advice from the Department of Conservation has consistently concluded that the only way to ensure that the species does not become extinct is to leave the snails where they are,' she said. 'Why is the minister ignoring his own scientists' advice?'

The so-called Powelliphanta Augustus species are among the largest snails in the world, meat-eaters with a remarkable ability to pounce on unsuspecting slugs and suck up worms like humans eat spaghetti.

Carter said, 'This decision has been an exceptionally difficult one to make because the issues involved are finely balanced.

'A great deal of advice has been considered on these matters. It is fair to say the scientific information on Powelliphanta Augustus is heavily contested.

'We have had to weigh the economic benefits of accessing this coal resource with the potential risk of detriment to the snails. On balance, we have decided to allow the snails to be moved.'