13:00
30 October 2015
A
bird immortalised in one of the most famous Christmas tunes has been placed on
the list of species considered to be facing extinction.
East
Anglia is one of the last places in the UK where European turtle doves continue
to breed but has now been added to the International Union for Conservation of
Nature’s Red List, which documents the conservation status of plants and
animals worldwide.
Turtle
doves were already a UK Red List species due to the loss of more than nine out of
ten birds in this country over the last 50 years.
Previously
they were in the ‘least concern’ category but have now been upgraded to
‘vulnerable’.
Now
conservation organisations in the Operation Turtle Dove partnership are working
hard to secure a future for them.
John
Sharpe, the RSPB’s conservation manager in Eastern England, said: “The news of
the increased threat of extinction to turtle doves is not wholly unexpected,
but it does throw into sharp relief the dire situation these birds face and the
urgency of joined-up conservation efforts across their range if we are to save
them.
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