WRITTEN QUESTION E-0694/97 by Nel van Dijk (V) to the Commission (6 March 1997)

Subject: Capture of hamsters in France

Has the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Strasbourg requested permission from the French Minister of the Environment to capture hamsters in the département of Bas-Rhin?

Is the capture of hamsters, for which a licence has always been granted in the past, a threat to the most viable hamster population in Western Europe which, however, like all the other populations in Western Europe, is visibly on the decrease despite the strict protection which the hamster should enjoy pursuant to Article 12 of the habitats Directive, 92/43/EEC ((OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7. ))?

Does the French government have any research data to indicate that the capture of hamsters in Bas-Rhin does not harm the efforts to enable the species in question to continue living in its natural range at a favourable conservation status, as laid down in Article 16 of the habitats directive?

Did the Institut de Physiologie of the medical faculty in Strasbourg succeed in breeding hamsters two years ago? Does this not mean that no licence should be granted for the capture of hamsters inv the wild, given that Article 16 of the habitats directive permits such capture only if there is no satisfactory alternative?

Has the French Minister of the Environment granted permission in recent years for the capture of hamsters in Bas-Rhin? Has the French government provided adequate justification for this decision in the biennial report on derogations from the habitats directive which it should have forwarded to the Commission pursuant to Article 16?

Has the Fauna Committee of the Conseil National pour la Protection de la Nature recently advised the French Minister of the Environment not to grant the CNRS permission for the capture of hamsters?

Will the Commission try (once again) to make clear to the French government that France, too, is obliged to comply with the habitats directive and that there can be no question of the capture of wild hamsters?

Supplementary answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (30 June 1997)

Further to its answer of 9 April 1997, the Commision is pleased to inform the Honourable Member of the following:

Based on information provided by the French authorities, it appears that a laboratory in Strasbourg has been running research programmes for several years involving the study of the common hamster. This laboratory was authorised to capture hamsters and was encouraged to breed them. There has been a significant decline in the common hamster's natural habitat during recent decades, but the main cause for this seems to be changes to the habitat itself rather than the licensed captures. In 1997 the French Ministry, aware of the adverse impact of captures on the hamster population, refused to grant the authorisation requested. These could still be permitted, however, should any crop damage occur, as provided for in Article 16 of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC).

The Commission has not received from the French authorities the biennial report on derogations from the Directive. It will remind the French authorities once again of their obligations under the Directive.