France Must Save the Hamsters or Pay.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that the French government must do more to save the wild hamster or be forced to pay up to $24.6 million for what, in essence, amounts to environmental negligence.

Two years ago the wild hamster population was near 1,500 and now has fallen to just 800. An increasing amount of suburban sprawl and a shift to new types of crops planted in the Alsace of France have led to a rapid die-off of thousands of endangered wild hamsters. Urban development tears up hamster burrows and crops favored by the critters are being switched out. Hamsters love corn but the corn species being planted in the Alsace isn’t ripe when hamsters emerge from winter hibernation causing them to starve to death.

To correct these issues, the EU Court has ordered massive restraints in urbanization and development and is forcing farmers to plant summer ripening corn. These measures should save hundreds of burrows from being destroyed and give hungry hamsters some food to wake up to. Simple changes that will mean life or death for these little guys.

Hopefully France steps up to do their part to save the hamsters. It’s cool that the European Court can actually punish countries for not doing enough to protect animals and the environment. I hope we see more of that going on.