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Welsh rugby talent muscled out by tiny dormice |
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| UK: December 23, 2002 | ||
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LONDON - A handful of tiny dormice have thwarted the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) in its bid to build a state-of-the-art academy to nurture talented players.
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The WRU wanted to build the academy in Bridgend, South Wales, but local councillors refused permission because the proposed site was already occupied by dormice, The Times newspaper reported on the weekend. "We don't seem to be able to win anything these days," the paper quoted one crestfallen WRU official as saying. "Our national side is not what it was and now a tiny dormouse has beaten us." The Welsh produced some of the world's greatest rugby union sides in the 1970s but their star has waned since then. They won only one of their five matches in this year's annual Six Nations tournament. Dormice are among the smallest, most reclusive and most fiercely protected mammals in Britain. "They are shy little creatures who are rarely seen and sleep for seven months of the year," Gill Barter, senior conservation officer of the Countryside Council for Wales, told The Times. "We are very pleased at the decision of councillors, which will safeguard dormice on that site."
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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