One in five British mammals endangered, says study
AT least one in five British mammals is at high risk of extinction in the face of threats such as disease and loss of their natural habitat.
Red squirrels, wildcats and grey long-eared bats are among the species which face severe threats to their survival, the first major review of British mammals for more than 20 years revealed.
Populations of nine species, including hedgehogs, water voles, hazel dormice and even rabbits, have declined in the past 20 years, the study of 58 native, “naturalised”, introduced and reintroduced species, showed.
Hedgehog numbers have fallen by two-thirds since the previous estimate in 1995, while red squirrels have also suffered marked declines and water vole populations are thought to be just one-tenth of what they were in the 1990s.
There is better news for some species, such as otters, whose range has expanded since the banning of pesticides which poisoned their river homes, and pine martens, polecats and badgers.
Deer, which have no natural predators in the UK, have increased in number, and beavers and wild boar have returned to British shores since the last time such a study was completed.
But even some of the species doing better since the 1990s are listed as being at risk of extinction.
The study, led by the Mammal Society and commissioned by government agency Natural England, examined 1.5 million records of mammals across Britain including data from “citizen science” reports and local wildlife groups.
While it found that almost one in five species (12 out of 58) is threatened with extinction across Britain, a lack of data means the true figure is likely to be higher, the experts said.
Mammals face a range of threats, including loss of habitat such as ancient woodland, the presence of invasive species which prey on them or compete with them for food, and diseases introduced by humans or other animals.
Fiona Mathews, chairwoman of the Mammal Society and professor of Environmental Biology at the University of Sussex, warned that Britain is on a “little bit of a precipice”.