Video transcript: Rescued crayfish released into Bodington Pond
Transcript for the video embedded on the Managing invasive species to help tackle the global water crisis page.
[Professor Alison Dunn is sat at a desk in an office and provides the narration throughout the video. During the video, footage repeatedly cuts between Professor Dunn and other scenes listed on this page at relevant points].
I'm Professor Alison Dunn at the University of Leeds and my lab is interested in invasive species and how they affect conservation.
[Crayfish swimming and exploring in laboratory tanks and being handled by researchers].
The white clawed crayfish is our only native species and the IUCN of classified as endangered. It's also protected under the Ukulele Wildlife and Countryside Act.
It's gone extinct throughout a lot of Britain because of competition from the invasive signal crayfish and because of the disease spread by the signal crayfish and also by contaminated equipment called crayfish plague that sadly kills off the white clawed crayfish.
Sadly, a few months ago the Environment Agency discovered that one of the few remaining populations in Yorkshire was infected with crayfish plague, which is driving that population extinct.
[People are gathered in a field with a large pond behind them surrounded by rushes. It is sunny].
Working with the Environment Agency and the University of States and Sustainability team, we've identified a pond at Bodingtons playing field [closer footage of the pond] that we're going to use to try and conserve this remaining population by moving animals from the endangered population into this ARC site for conservation out at the Bodington Playing Fields.
[A person picks a crayfish out of a large box filled with water and places it carefully in the pond].
[Crayfish underwater and a person handling a crayfish].
If you go out into the environment and find a crayfish, it's great to have a look at it, but it's very hard to tell apart our native one from the invasive. So please don't ever move crayfish around between ponds or rivers.
[People walking past Bodington Pond carrying equipment and a closer view of the pond itself].
And if you do go out into the environment, whether you're walking or dog walking or angling or doing anything recreational like boating in the water, please try not to accidentally move around anything that might have tiny invasive species attached to it, or indeed wildlife diseases. So when you've finished in the water, try and check your equipment so you don't accidentally have it contaminated with any wildlife. Clean it off if you can. Soaking in hot water is great to ensure everything dies and dry it out before you use it again. Remember, please - check, clean, dry.