Developers threaten animals in Croatia's cave network (BBC)

By Tom Heap
BBC, Croatia

Species of animals, millions of years old, could be wiped out by pollution and development in Croatia according to a new breed of cave biologists.

Jana Bedek and her team of bio-speleologists have recently discovered that the underground networks of the Balkans, especially Croatia, have the richest cave fauna in the world.

"We are now in the place with the best range of cave animals in the world," she says.

"The other countries have their own rich fauna in rainforests, marine ecosystems etc, but here in this area we have cave fauna. Really important at world level."

But on a political and economic level, Croatia is emerging from decades of communism, and the devastating Balkan war, with a desire to develop.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9577248.stm




Not a very encouraging article. :(

My aunt visited there two years ago. They're very proud of the gains that they've made in cleaning up from Communism, and are seriously committed to environmentalism. They took down a dam that provided hydroelectric power because it was killing fish. They realize that they've got a tourist gold mine, since it's relatively undeveloped and it hasn't been overrun by tourists yet.

I'm hoping that they do the right thing with these caves.