The £135,000 was spent trapping and moving water voles from the Somerset Levels ahead of dredging . Taxpayers have footed a £135,000 bill to move 50 protected water voles - at a cost of £2,500 per animal - to allow dredging of the Somerset Levels . The bill for moving the creatures is nearly six times the original estimate , it was revealed today . In January and February 2014 residents on the Levels were forced to abandon their homes after record rainfall saw rivers burst their banks following years of insufficient dredging . More than 600 homes and 17,000 acres of farmland were inundated with quickly rising waters and entire villages were cut off in the wettest January since records began in 1766 . But the Environment Agency says it has a legal duty under EU-backed regulations to protect the water voles as an endangered species . The £135,000 was spent trapping and moving 55 of the six-inch-long furry creatures from their bankside burrows on the Somerset Levels ahead of dredging work . In February , when the scheme was first revealed it was estimated it would cost £24,000 to put the tiny voles into 'winter storage ' . But now the Environment Agency has admitted that another £86,000 had to be spent on a 'wildlife survey ' . Previously the agency had claimed the wildlife survey was not part of the cost of relocating the voles . And when other costs are factored in , the total bill came to £135,000 . Scroll down for video . The survey involved setting up traps along the river banks and checking them over a period of several months - the cost of which was not previously disclosed . Now some Somerset Levels residents - while anxious to have rivers dredged to avoid the devastating floods from two winters ago - think the scheme is an unnecessary waste of public money . They say the people who approved the plan are living in Kenneth Grahame 's book for children , The Wind in the Willows , featuring Ratty - a water vole - Mole , Badger and Mister Toad . Farmer James Winslade believes the voles would have moved themselves elsewhere when the dredgers began work and argues they did not need to be captured and moved 100 miles to a new home . Residents abandoned their homes after rivers burst their banks following years of insufficient dredging . More than 600 homes and 17,000 acres of farmland ( pictured ) were inundated with quickly rising waters in late 2013 and early 2014 and entire villages were cut off in the wettest January since records began in 1766 . He said dredging often took place across the Levels before the Environment Agency took over , and that in the past it had never appeared to affect the vole population . 'They 're not stupid , they 'll feel the vibration of the dredgers and move - it 's not like they have n't any other habitat to move on to , ' he said . 'The river bank adjoins fields so they can move from the river banks to the fields , and move back once the dredgers have gone . ' Money spent on relocating the voles was a small percentage of the £6 millionspent on dredging five miles ( 8 km ) of the rivers Tone and Parrett , the agency said previously . The 'rescued ' voles spent the winter in an 'over-wintering facility ' before being moved to new riverside homes in Hampshire and Cornwall . Ecology expert Graeme Skinner said the work required professional , academically-trained people 'who hold relevant licences ' . The Environment Agency says it has a legal duty to protect water voles ( pictured ) as an endangered species . The levels today , after the flooding - the voles have now been moved to a new home 100 miles away . Some Somerset Levels residents - while anxious to have rivers dredged to avoid the devastating floods ( pictured ) - think the scheme to remove the voles is an unnecessary waste of public money . He said : 'They are undertaking sometimes long , arduous hours in the field to make sure it 's up to the standard that is required nowadays . ' About 130,000 cubic metres of silt was removed from the Parrett and Tone rivers at Burrowbridge after the floods devastated hundreds of homes . An Environment Agency spokesman said 'We had a legal duty to move the voles , which are critically endangered and protected . 'The over-wintering is necessary to ensure their survival . 'Relocating them was an essential piece of work - if we had n't moved this population of voles then it would not have been possible to complete the dredging . 'It is unusual for the agency to undertake a substantial relocation project like this . ' The dredging forms the first phase of the 20-year Somerset Flood Action Plan . Following the devastation , which took place between December 2013 and March 2014 , 8,000 metres of river was dredged at a cost of £6 million . About 130,000 cubic metres of silt was removed from the Parrett and Tone rivers at Burrowbridge .
It has cost the taxpayer £ 135,000 to move 55 protected water voles . They have been removed from Somerset Levels for dredging to take water . In 2014 over 600 acres and 200 acres of farmland were flooded with water after rivers burst their banks following years of insufficient drainage . Critics for moving the voles is an unnecessary waste of public transport .