animals. Distribution and conservation status It is typically found in low-lying farmland with soft loam or loess soils, although it may also inhabit meadows, gardens or hedges. It is found from Belgium and Alsace in the west, to Russia in the east, and Bulgaria in the south. In captivity, the European hamster has an unusually long lifespan, living up to eight years. The Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Union's highest court, ruled in 2011 that France had failed to protect the European hamster. The government would be subject to fines of up to $24.6 million if France did not adjust its agricultural and urbanisation policies sufficiently to protect it. By 2014, France had started a captive-breeding programme, which aimed to release 500 European hamsters each year into fields that farmers were paid not to harvest. In 2020, the European hamster was classified as critically endangered across its global range on the IUCN Red List. The reasons for its drastic decline are not fully understood. It has been linked especially to habitat loss due to intensive agricultural practices and the building of roads that fragment populations, and to climate change, the historical fur trapping and to pollution; even light pollution appears to significantly reduce local populations, unless counterbalanced by other factors. Agriculture, development, and persecution are thought to be the biggest threats to the species. A significant benefit to existing conservation programs is that the European hamster breeds readily in captivity; captive breeding programs for the species exist in Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and elsewhere. References External links Hamsters Rodents of Europe Rodents of Asia Critically endangered biota of Europe Mammals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus