Icon: enlarge
The brown hare lacks many plants that are decimated by industrial agriculture and herbicide use.
Photo: M. Woike / blickwinkel / imago images
When species are extinct, the bad news does not stop: tens of thousands of animals are threatened with extinction worldwide, hundreds of thousands are on the red list, so they are endangered.
This was reported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN just a few months ago.
There is also such a red list for Germany and it is not exactly encouraging either: almost a third of all mammal species in this country are endangered.
This emerges from a current report by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the Red List Center (RLZ).
The authors determined the population situation and the extent of the endangerment for 97 native mammals in Germany.
Conclusion: The condition of many animal populations has deteriorated over the past ten to fifteen years.
The threatened species include the brown hare, polecat, Bechstein's bat, field hamster, garden dormouse and porpoise.
They are all considered to be "endangered" and thus fall under one of the four categories "threatened with extinction", "critically endangered", "endangered" or "endangerment of unknown extent".
The red list was updated for the first time in ten years.
Whale death in the Baltic Sea
"Their occurrences are decreasing because human use of their habitats continues to increase", said BfN President Beate Jessel in Bonn in the morning.
"It is also the effects of our uses that have resulted in the long-eared gray ear, bat, lynx and minke whale now being classified as critically endangered."
According to the report, half of all mammal species are endangered, extremely rare or already extinct.
Around seven percent of all mammals examined are threatened with extinction.
One example is the porpoise, which the list classifies as "Endangered".
In the Baltic Sea, whales even fall into the "critically endangered" category.
According to the report, this is due to gillnet fishing, environmental pollution, underwater noise such as the detonation of old ammunition or shipping.
Gray seals and wild cats are doing fine
The populations of 17 species of mammals, including the Atlantic gray seal, wildcat and otter, have developed positively.
This is mainly due to measures in the field of nature and environmental protection.
At least a stabilization was found in a further 39 species.
The Red List provides information on all 117 mammal species occurring in Germany.
Ten recorded species have died out or disappeared in Germany, such as the bottlenose dolphin and the European ground squirrel.
In order to stop the decline in species, "a more nature-friendly agriculture and forestry over a wide area", said Jessel.
Icon: The mirror
sug / dpa
