Endangered -- Hedgehogs and Sparrows
Date: 29-Aug-07
Country: UK
Author: Andrew Hough
The latest UK Biodiversity Action Plan showed almost 1,150
native species in 65 habitats are in danger around the country
and in urgent need of special protection.
The numbers have almost doubled since the first action plan
in 1997 which identified 577 endangered species.
Conservation groups said the increases were caused by
several factors; most notably the reduction in food such as
insects for birds caused by perfectly manicured gardens.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) warned
the list was "cause for alarm".
Spokesman Grahame Madge called on all households to join the
fight to save dying species.
"The fact the list has doubled shows that conversation needs
a lot of help," he said."It shows it is not just the rare
(species) that are declining and in order to save them it
demands everybody to help rescue them."
He said there should be no reason for many of the species
identified in the list to be in danger.
For the first time species under threat include the grass
snake, the hedgehog, Atlantic salmon, the European eel and the
garden tiger moth.
Species remaining on the conservation action list include
the skylark, otter, bottlenose dolphin and black grouse.
But since the 1997 list, 123 species have been removed
including the Adonis blue butterfly, the pipistrelle bat and the
ladybird spider -- whose numbers are at a 50-year high.
The authoritative list, published by the Department for the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Tuesday, involved more
than 500 wildlife experts, took more than two years to compile
and aims to halt species loss by 2010.
Biodiversity minister Joan Ruddock said in a statement that
helping save important eco-systems was "essential if we are to
pass on a healthy environment to the next generation".
"Our climate is changing and it is therefore more important
than ever that our conservation efforts help our important
wildlife habitats to adapt and increase their chances of
survival," she added.
She said the list would help the government focus resources
on endangered species.