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Europe Orders France to Save the Great Hamster of Alsace
By Catherine Dagger
Generally, Europeans don't have much time for the Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Or that's my view anyway. The European Union's highest court is, well, a bit of law unto itself.
Living in France however, and being a bit of an animal lover, I was cheered to see that Europe's pompous judges have ruled in favour of France's Great Hamster of Alsace.
Great Hamsters are generally known for livingin cages and running on wheels but the Alscae hamster is the last wild hamster in Western Europe. An exceptionally good-looking little creature, he has a brown and white face, snow-white paws and a black belly.
The hamster's big problem though is that his habitat is being destroyed by French agricultural and urbanization policies. Prone to mind its own business and live quietly in little burrows alongside the Rhine river in Alsace, the hamster population has dwindled to around 800.
The reason is that the Great Hamster feeds on grass and certain crops like alfalfa which have been pushed out by corn. The hamsters have been waking up each spring after hibernating, ready to feed and breed, only to find there's nothing to eat. Corn ripens too late to be of use. The hamsters then trundle off to forage further afield and find themselves mixed up with motorways and housing estates.
The Great Hamster has not had an easy time when it comes to survival. Before they gaioned protected species status in the 90s, French farmers treated them as vermin, flooding their burrow, setting traps and attempting to feed them poison.
But now the European Court has come to the hamsters' defence. Not only will France be fined millions of euros if the Great Hamster continues to suffer but the French government has to raise the population to 1500. Cue candlelit dinners of lush green grass and fresh alfalfa....
Jean-Paul Burget is President of Sauvegarde Faune Sauvage, (Safeguard Wildlife) and is based in Wittenheim in Alsace. He told the New York Times: "We are very happy...European rules must be followed...France now must work to raise the population of hamsters up to 1,500." That target will apprently be enough to save the Great Hamster species.
Sauvegarde Faune Sauvage filed a complaint to the European Commission, on behalf of the Great Hamster, back in 2006. The complaint succeeded. The case is won. The Great Hamster of Alsace lives on.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/world ... ef=general
