Yahoo – AFP,
6 May 2014
Authorities in the French region of Alsace have launched an action plan to save a hamster facing extinction, more than two years after Europe's top court rapped Paris for neglecting the little rodent.
A Great Hamster of Alsace at a breeding centre in Hunawihr, eastern France, on June 7, 2011 (AFP) |
Authorities in the French region of Alsace have launched an action plan to save a hamster facing extinction, more than two years after Europe's top court rapped Paris for neglecting the little rodent.
The
five-year project will see farmers in the eastern region implement measures to
try to encourage the reproduction of the Great Hamster of Alsace, which can
grow to 25 centimetres (10 inches) long, has a brown and white face, a black
belly, white paws and little round ears.
A Great Hamster of Alsace at a breeding
centre in Hunawihr, eastern France, on
June 7, 2011.
|
An action
plan for the hamster had been put in place in 2007, but the European Court of
Justice ruled in 2011 that France was still not doing enough to protect the
furball, which hibernates for six months and spends the vast majority of its
life alone.
The hamster
has been protected legally since 1993 but its numbers fell from 1,167 in 2001
to as few as 161 in 2007, although they have since gone up slightly.
The
preferred grazing of the creature -- forage crops such as alfalfa -- have
largely been replaced by the more profitable maize, which it does not like.
Farmers
will therefore try planting a mix of maize and alfalfa, or leaving strips of
plants in between each line of maize.
"The
aim is to find innovative... practices to preserve the animal without harming
farmers' activities," the regional council said in a statement.
Rampant
urbanisation has also contributed to eroding the rodent's population, and the
hamster currently lives in just 14 zones in Alsace criss-crossed by busy
thoroughfares.
Members of
the NGO "Sauvegarde Faune Sauvage" (Wildlife Conservation)
prepare to
release Great Hamsters of Alsace in Duppigheim, France, on
June 13, 2013 as
part of a reintroduction programme.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment