PRESS RELEASE

3 March 2008

Water voles are thrown a life line

Cheshire Wildlife Trust has welcomed the announcement of further legislation to protect the Water Vole,  especially as it coincides with the launch of a new project to monitor the endangered species.

This important announcement has been a long time coming. Under new proposals announced by Defra, it will now be against the law to intentionally kill a water vole or to intentionally, or recklessly, damage or disturb the places they use for shelter or protection, meaning that their future is a safer one.

Threatened by habitat loss and predation by American mink, the water vole is the UK's fastest declining native mammal.  In 1990 there were seven million water voles in the UK.  By 1998 numbers had crashed to less than a million and they have since continued to fall.  Previous legal protection for water voles, introduced in 1998, extended only to the animal's habitat, not to the animal itself.  This has proved a source of confusion, resulting in the loss of important water vole colonies.

For the last few years Cheshire Wildlife Trust has been working hard to ensure that water voles survive, by improving wetland habitats and working to protect water voles from mink predation.

The launch of the North West Lowlands Water Vole Project involving Cheshire Wildlife Trust and Lancashire Wildlife Trust along with Natural England amongst other organisations, sees water vole conservation entering a new three-year phase with two new dedicated project officers.

The Project will work with the Environment Agency and United Utilities to survey and map the current populations. This will highlight the best areas for habitat management and creation work to link these small populations.

Elizabeth Barratt from Cheshire Wildlife Trust, says: “We're absolutely delighted water voles have finally been thrown this life line. Water voles have been lost from many parts of the UK, and are increasingly rare in Cheshire, but this excellent news, along with the work planned in our new project, will undoubtedly help our efforts to bring the water vole back from the brink.”


Notes to Editors
With effect from April 6 2008, the water vole will be added to Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. This is following JNCCs review of the schedules which they undertake every five years.
The protection for wild specimens will be increased to full protection under section 9 of the WCA, adding prohibitions against intentional killing or injury, possession and sale.

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