Barbara Wareham from Kings Langley is appealing to readers to identify a snake in her garden
5:30pm Tuesday 5th June 2012 in News 
A Kings Langley woman has described her horror after finding a snake, measuring two and a half feet long, had eaten all the fish and tadpoles in her pond.
Barbara Wareham appeared in the Watford Observer last year, after a mischievous peahen took up residence in her back garden, eating all of her petunias and sending her neighbours in a flap with its squawking.
Although “Annie” the peahen has moved on, this time, Mrs Wareham, of Beechfield Road, has a new tenant – a rather large snake.
She said: “I was sat outside Wednesday lunchtime when I spotted it coming out of the pond. It was eyeing up a bird that had come to rest on the side.
“It frightened the life out of me. The snake is absolutely huge.
“I’d noticed earlier on that all my fish and tadpoles had disappeared. Now I believe I’ve found the culprit.
“It’s horrible, it makes my skin crawl.”
According to Mrs Wareham, a school receptionist, since she has not seen the snake since it stuck its head out of her pond. But she has taken photos and is hoping Watford Observer readers will help her identify what type of snake it is.
She said: “I don’t know whether it’s still in there or making its way around my garden. Either way, it’s frightened the life out of me, I don’t want it killing everything in the garden. I don't want in my pond.
“I accidentally left my shed door open and now I’m terrified it’s hiding in there. I dare not go in.
“I saw a snake last year, but it was nowhere near as big as this one, which makes me think maybe there’s a family of them about.
“The worst thing of all is I’m starting to get a name for myself among my neighbours as the Dr Doolittle of Kings Langley, what with the peahen and the snake. A few kites have come in here as well.
“Why is it that I never find a good looking man at the bottom of garden?”
Do you think you know what type of snake is lurking in Mrs Wareham’s garden? If so, comment below.
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crazyfrog says...
5:51pm Tue 5 Jun 12
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Source: www.watfordobserver.co.uk
'UK grocery shoppers are killing Amazon rainforest' - Mail & Guardian Online
The Amazon rainforest. (AFP)
The environmental group says in a report that canned beef from the supermarket chain has been found to contain meat from ranches that have been carved out of the lands of indigenous peoples, and farms the Brazilian government believes have been cited in illegally deforested lands.
The allegations stem from an 18-month investigation carried out by Greenpeace into the practices of JBS, a big Brazilian supplier of meat and cattle by-products. The campaigning group claims it unearthed evidence of serious violations of the company’s own ethical code and those of companies it supplies, including Tesco.
Sarah Shoraka, forests campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “Beef farming is the biggest cause of Amazon destruction.
Tesco is driving this problem through its beef sourcing. Tesco canned beef supply comes from illegal farms that destroy the Amazon and occupy indigenous people’s land. Tesco’s supplier JBS refuses to tackle the problem. Tesco needs to take the bull by the horns and stop selling beef that destroys the Amazon.”In response, Tesco said it had begun to terminate its contracts with JBS more than a year ago but certain products could still be within its supply chain because of the time needed to end the agreements.
The company added: “We are committed to tackling rainforest deforestation, including working with other consumer goods companies [through the Consumer Goods Forum] to help end deforestation by 2020.
“The vast majority of the beef we sell, including all fresh beef, is sourced from the UK and Ireland. Canned beef products sourced from Brazil account for less than 1% of total beef sales. We started to cut back our supplies from JBS a year ago and have now ceased sourcing any canned beef products from JBS. Ethics and sustainability remain an important part of our dialogue with suppliers.”
Threatening important ecosystems
Cattle ranches are the leading source of rainforest destruction in the Amazon, as ranchers chop down trees to make room for herds often many thousands strong. These herds have to be moved frequently as the rainforest soil is soon exhausted by their intensive grazing, leading to a pattern of deforestation that threatens one of the world’s most important ecosystems.
Much of the beef, leather and other by-products are sold in the west, often passing through a long supply chain and rebranded many times, so it is all but impossible for consumers to tell where their purchases originated.
The Greenpeace report claims direct links between the widespread destruction of the Amazon for cattle ranches and the sale of products from those ranches in the UK and other countries.
JBS, the focus of the Greenpeace study, is one of the world’s biggest food suppliers. It is accused of a series of major violations of its own ethical pledges, including failing to monitor sites and taking products from sites suspected to be illegal or within indigenous areas. Few western consumers will be familiar with the company, but its clients have included many of the world’s biggest food brands.
It is understood that several have ceased – or begun to review – their relationships with JBS following warnings from campaigners that the company’s practices may violate their policies on ethical sourcing. Companies to have reviewed arrangements are understood to include the retailers Sainsbury’s, Asda and Ikea, the footwear company Clarks and food firm Prince’s.
Greenpeace’s latest investigations follow a ground-breaking study in 2009 that for the first time established a clear chain of responsibility stretching from Amazonian ranches on land cleared illegally to western companies including luxury brands, supermarkets and a variety of “household name” firms using everything from leather, beef and other cattle by-products to paper packaging.
Illegally cleared forests
After that report, a wide range of multinational companies pledged to re-examine their supply chains to ensure no material from illegally cleared forests in the Amazon reached their customers. As part of that effort, the Brazilian companies most heavily involved in the Amazon trade also vowed to clean up their supply chains, going further than the minimum required by Brazilian law.
But this latest study alleges that in the past three years JBS has failed to live up to its pledges. According to evidence amassed by Greenpeace, the company bought animals from at least five farms accused by the Brazilian government of illegal deforestation between June and December 2011.
According to the report, JBS has also failed to monitor its indirect suppliers – contrary to a promise it made after Greenpeace’s 2009 investigation – so many of its suppliers are taking goods that do not meet the standard of sourcing JBS and its customers have committed to.
Audits that the company claims to have undertaken have not been made available and where the company has collected data on the whereabouts of its suppliers’ farms – which should in theory show that they are in legal areas – the data has been incomplete, giving just one GPS reference when in fact several are needed to establish the borders of the properties involved. JBS has also, Greenpeace alleges, failed to present evidence that its suppliers are registered with Brazil’s environmental authorities.
Greenpeace said it had traced beef from questionable farms from the sources through JBS’s processing facilities and from there into cans sold in the UK by Tesco and in the Netherlands.
JBS, whose motto is “In God we trust, Nature we respect” said: “JBS as a leading meatpacking company with relevant operations in Brazil is proud of its track record in leading sustainable initiatives in all its activities. We continue to proactively liaise with NGOs, customers and stakeholders in general towards providing healthy products for a growing global population while forwarding the most sustainable practices.”
It said it had written to Greenpeace and its own customers taking issue with the Greenpeace report. – © Guardian News and Media 2012
Source: mg.co.za
Holmfirth Tesco gets backing from 72%, survey reveals - Huddersfield Examiner
Source: www.examiner.co.uk
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