France launches action plan to save endangered hamster

€3m plan to increase numbers of the Great Hamster of Alsace, which has suffered from farmers changing crops

theguardian.com, Tuesday 6 May 2014 12.53 BST

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 25cm (10in) long, has a brown and white face, a black belly, white paws and little round ears.

It aims to raise the population of the creature, which is currently 500-1,000, to around 1,500.

As part of the three-million-euro ($4.2 million) project announced on Monday by Alsace's regional council, farmers have pledged to grow plants or grains that the rodent likes - such as wheat or alfalfa - on parts of their fields.

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France to face EU court over great hamster disappearance

The European Commission plans to take France to Europe's highest court for failing to protect the great hamster of Alsace, a species threatened with extinction, an official said Thursday.

The official, who is linked to the proceedings and declined to be named, said that French authorities had refused all approaches by the commission to protect the small mammal, also known as the European hamster.

According to the EU's executive body, the rodent requires around 240,000 hectares (600,000 acres) of protected land to thrive, but the species has been shoe-horned into under 3,500 hectares in eastern France, reducing its food supply.

Once considered a pest by farmers in the Alsace region -- where about 80 percent of the land is used to grow corn -- the hamster has been protected since 1993 and is considered one of the most threatened mammals in Europe.

Its numbers have plummeted from over 1,000 in 2001 to fewer than 200 in 2007, and have continued to decline over the last two years.

The commission is taking the action at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the official said, to force France to take action to save the hamster, which is also under threat from increasing urbanisation in the region.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090625/tsc-france-to-face-eu-court-over-great-h-4f03b23.html