The French government has been warned by a EU legal advisor that they need to act quickly to do more to protect hamsters.
There is an endangered species of hamster, living in Eastern France near to Strasbourg. They were warned in 2008 by the European Commission that they needed to do something to help to protect them. The breed of hamster is called Great Hamsters of Alsace and in 2010 298 burrows were found whereas in 2001 there were 1167. It is assumed that one hamster lives in each burrow and so this means that the numbers are very small indeed.
It seems that it is roads and farms which threaten them but if the French government allow these threats to cause there numbers to dwindle even more they could be fined. It seems that the Lower Rhine department near to Strasbourg is the only remaining wild habitat for the hamsters.
The EU Advocate General Juliane Kokott has said that if the French government did try to put something in place to protect the hamsters in 2008, then this was obviously not enough and they needed to act further to protect the animals. They felt that the government should prevent the building of roads and change the agricultural practices. It seems that the hamsters like to eat alfalfa but farmers in the area have taken to growing maize instead which could be a reason for the hamsters decline.
The EU Advocate has passed her case onto judges and it is likely that the EU Commission will win as they do tend to win most of the cases against countries that breach EU directives. She reported that although France were required to change the agricultural process and urban sprawl, they had only done this in 60% of the areas which the hamster lives and so this was not enough to ensure that they survived.