25 Hazel Dormice Released as Part of Species Reintroduction Plan

The Hazel Dormouse, once widespread throughout the UK, is now vulnerable to regional extinction. Fortunately, an ongoing reintroduction plan is helping to increase the numbers of Britain’s only native dormouse species.

Loss of hedgerows and fragmentation of woodland habitat has nearly wiped out the Hazel Dormouse from Britain. But, thank to the PTES’ Hazel Dormouse Biodiversity Action Plan, this species is being reintroduced to the wild.

At the latest dormouse release organized by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), 11 male and 14 female Hazel Dormice were released “somewhere in Warwickshire.” These young dormice were comprised of animals from wild animal parks and several private breeders, ensuring genetic diversity in the new population. They have been microchipped to enable ongoing monitoring.

For the first two weeks, the dormice will live in large cages as they become accustomed to their new surroundings, receiving food and water daily. Then, the cage doors will be open and the little mammals will be able to explore the surrounding woodland on their own, and eventually live independently.

To provide shelter and encourage breeding, 200 dormouse nest boxes have been placed in the woodland. Researchers will monitor the activities of this new group, to determine how far they travel, and if they produce any new dormice.

Over 600 Hazel Dormice have been released into 12 counties by PTES.

About the Hazel Dormouse

The Hazel Dormouse has a distinctly different way of life:

• Dormice spend most of their waking hours in trees. Instead of risking danger on the ground, they are known to make “long detours” through treetops.
• If the weather is cold and wet, and food scarce, they save energy by going into torpor – they curl up into a ball and go to sleep.
• Dormice therefore spend a large proportion of their lives sleeping; either hibernating in winter or in torpor in summer.
• Unlike other small mammals who are able to breed prolifically, dormice usually have only one litter a year, sometimes two, which means that a poor breeding year can have a heavy impact on a population. Several continuous years of unsettled weather can be catastrophic.

Roadside dormice: Thriving or just surviving?

Despite the dormouse’s natural environment of treetops – and inherent fear of traveling across open spaces – a recent study commissioned by the Highways Commission argues that dormice are “thriving” in a roadside area, where they must regularly cross a busy road in Cornwall.

The study was conducted in hopes of saving money by not having to accommodate protected dormouse populations by installing tunnels or rope bridges.

In order to conduct the study, 50 dormice were fitted with microchips. As the dormice were monitored it was found that

… many were able to cross the road safely and one even managed to do it twice.

OK, just a couple of questions:

1. What about the ones the ones that were not “able to cross the road safely”?
2. And if one “manages to do it twice”, does it mean the dormice choose to cross the road only once, or does it actually mean that none of them survive a second attempt at crossing the road?

Could the Highway Commission be more interested in saving money than saving dormice?

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dearbarbie/ / CC BY-SA 2.0