Common Hamsters in and Outside the City: Some Reflections on Urban Biodiversity, Species Recovery and the EU Habitats Directive

Abstract

Abstract The Wild or Common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) is found across a broad swathe of Eurasia, stretching from Belgium in the West to the Altai Mountains in Russia. Once it was considered a farmland pest. In spite of being a strictly protected species under the EU Habitats Directive since 1994, its populations have continued to plummet throughout the past decades in many Member States such as France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. This paper analyses the recent case law developments regarding this enigmatic rodent, which paradoxically has featured in no less than three rulings of the Court of Justice of the EU throughout the past decades. The two most recent rulings focus on the protected status of this species in a urban context, since one of the largest populations of common hamsters is currently situated in the Austrian capital of Vienna. There the presence of the protected species interfered with future urban development plans, which presented the Court of Justice of the EU with the opportunity to clarify certain key concepts that are entrenched in the system of strict species protection. This paper outlines the primary lessons that can be drawn from the recent jurisprudence and sketches the unlocked potential that is present in the recent judicial decisions for more effective species recovery, in general, and the future of the common hamster, in particular. The main thread throughout this article is the leeway available to better align the survival of protected species with urban development.