快猫短视频

NEGLIGENCE may be threatening a rare Scottish bird with extinction, says the
European Commission.

Numbers of the grouse-like capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) in
Scotland have plummeted from 20 000 in the mid-1970s to a thousand today.
快猫短视频s say poor weather has cut the bird鈥檚 supply of plant food.

鈥淭he Commission is concerned that the United Kingdom authorities may not be
doing all they can to ensure adequate protection of the capercaillie,鈥� says
George Kremlis of the EC Environment Directorate. It has asked Britain to
justify its use of high wire forest fences, which kill the birds and prevent the
population from recovering
(快猫短视频, 7 March, 1998, p 5).
Britain must also answer an accusation that designated Special Protection Areas (SPA)
鈥渁re too small and fragmented to offer the species effective protection鈥�.

Both charges were made by wildlife consultant Robert Moss, a former senior
scientist at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology in Banchory near Aberdeen. He
argues that Scotland鈥檚 six existing SPAs, which cover a few thousand hectares,
need to be expanded tenfold. He accuses Scottish Natural Heritage, the agency
responsible for SPAs in Scotland, of being 鈥渄efensive and negligent鈥�.

According to the draft minutes of a meeting of the Capercaillie Species
Action Plan steering group in February, SNH scientist Andy Douse accepted 鈥渙n
scientific grounds鈥� that the SPAs were too small. 鈥淏oundaries had been drawn for
administrative reasons,鈥� he explained. Moss says that SNH merely reused the
boundaries of existing conservation areas 鈥渢o make life easy鈥�.

SNH, however, insists that its work is based on sound scientific principles
and not administrative convenience. 鈥淲e are committed to protecting the
capercaillie and to the care and improvement of Scotland鈥檚 wider natural
heritage,鈥� says an SNH spokesman.