Our vanishing wildlife

Extinction threat for quarter of UK native mammals

A QUARTER of Britain’s native mammals – including red squirrels, beavers and wildcats – are at risk of extinction.

The first official Red List for British mammals, which uses international criteria to assess threats to wildlife, shows 11 of our 47 native creatures are at risk of dying out.

Historical persecution, loss of habitat, chemical use and the introduction of non-native species have led to their precarious state.

Those at the highest risk of going extinct include wildcats, with fewer than 20 in the wild in Scotland, and greater mouseeared bats of which there is only one known individual.

Beavers, reintroduced in recent years after being hunted to extinction in the 1600s, are also endangered, as well as water voles and grey long-eared bats.

Hedgehogs and hazel dormice are classed as vulnerable and a further five species including mountain hares and harvest mice are considered near threatened.

Britain has a limited number of native mammals due to past glaciations, which forced animals across the former land bridge to mainland Europe.

The European wolf, which vanished from Britain in the 17th century, is classed as extinct in the assessment, which looks back as far as the year 1500.

For the first time the Red List has been accepted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature on a regional basis, which means it meets the internationally agreed criteria for assessing threats to wildlife. It has been produced by the Mammal Society for

Scottish Natural Heritage, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

The report was led by Fiona Mathews, chairman of the Mammal Society and professor at the University of Sussex. She said there is an urgent need for more sustained monitoring and intervention in the long term to ensure protection schemes get results.

She also called for urgent action to protect species that are near threatened to prevent their numbers from falling further.

‘Once an animal becomes endangered, it’s really a scramble for time to put measures in place to rescue them,’ she said.