Love is blind !
Nothing can stop the common toad, says bufo bufo, a species protected during its breeding season.
Not even a departmental road that crosses the town of Léry, near Val-de-Reuil (Eure).
However, some inhabitants prefer to hear its song in the evening deep in the forest than to count every morning the number of specimens crushed by the thousands of daily vehicles.
So, for five years, a small group called Les Crapauds de Léry has been organized with the department of Eure to help them overcome this deadly obstacle.
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Every morning and evening, Delphine Paumier and volunteers go along the traffic lane.
From the end of February to the beginning of May, as soon as the earth warms up and the humidity is present, the departmental services install a protective cover on it over about 300 m as well as buried buckets spaced apart: "The toad is born in water and , unlike the frog, it lives in the forest.
Only, the females return to lay their eggs where they were born.
So, with their companions, they go back on the road.
For years, we saw nothing but crushed flesh.
Unfortunately, it took a fatal accident of a young person on a scooter that slipped on it for the community to accept these facilities ... ”explains the volunteer.
The Bufo Bufo or common toad is a protected species.
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Thus, at night, the toads come out of the forest of Bord.
Blocked by the plastic obstacle, they run alongside it and at one point fall into a bucket.
The Good Samaritans pick them up in the morning and drop them off in the pond opposite.
"In 2019, we saved 223. In 2020, we went to 522. This morning
(Editor's note: February 23)
, I found 43 toads in the buckets," explains Delphine Paumier.
This mobilization had local repercussions.
The municipalities of d'Amfreville-sous-le-Mont, Manneville, Bazincourt-sur-Epte also participate in these rescues.
They will soon be joined by Fatouville-Grestain and Saint-Cyr-la-Campagne.
In partnership with the LPO (League for the Protection of Birds) and the CPIE Terres de l'Eure, awareness campaigns are also organized in the colleges of Rugles, Beaumont-le-Roger, Romilly-sur-Andelle and Val-de-Reuil .
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