3,3 mio. pund til udryddelsen af Amerikansk Skarveand
Nedenstående er en pressemeddelelse fra Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3JR udsendt den 12.10.2005:
£3.3 MILLION FOR RUDDY DUCK ERADICATION
A £3.3 million project announced today will address the threat to European wildlife posed by ruddy duck populations now settled in Britain.
Ruddy ducks are an invasive species native to North America, and the populations in Britain are the most significant threat to the survival to the globally-threatened white-headed duck in Spain.
The £3.34 million, five-year project is jointly funded by Defra and the European Commission, with Defra contributing £2.03 million of the total costs.
Biodiversity Minister Jim Knight said that the control program would make a major contribution to protecting the declining populations of white-headed ducks.
"Non-native invasive species are a major problem throughout Europe, and ruddy ducks are no exception," he said. "If the threat of ruddy ducks is removed, Spain's globally-threatened white-headed ducks will have a much brighter future.
"This funding package follows through on our 2003 agreement to eradicate ruddy ducks, once further research on humane control techniques had been completed and other issues had been resolved.
"No country can remove the threat of ruddy ducks to Europe's native wildlife on its own, and we have been working closely with Spain and other EU nations to achieve international co-operation on this issue."
Ruddy ducks were introduced to the UK from North America in the 1940s, and the current population in the wild is estimated to be around 6000 birds. There are an estimated 500,000 ruddy ducks in their native North America.
Ruddy ducks interbreed with white-headed ducks, whose Western European population around 2700 birds are all found in Spain. The interbred offspring are fertile, and therefore pose an increasing threat to the white-headed duck, which could lead to its extinction. Without the presence of Ruddy ducks, the White-headed duck population in Spain is thought to be self-sustaining.
Defra has already advertised for ruddy duck control specialists to work on the project, which is expected to commence before the end of the year.
Hele pressemeddelelsen kan findes på
http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2005/051012a.htm .
English version