threats

Major threats to mammals in Europe

A quarter of our terrestrial mammals are at risk of extinction.
Habitat loss and degradation, human disturbance, pollution, accidental mortality (e.g., secondary poisoning, vehicle collisions) and direct persecution, overexploitation and invasive species are the most important threats.

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Habitat loss

Loss of habitat extent, quality and connectivity has strong, negative effects on biodiversity, negatively impacts species richness, species interactions, foraging, breeding, and dispersal. The main drivers are intensive agriculture, unsustainable forest management, and infrastructure development.

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Human disturbance

Human disturbance, caused mostly by recreation and hunting, affects the movement of animals, their survival and population viability.

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Pollution

Pollution is a global problem. It has diverse long and short-term impacts on the quality of the waters, air, soils, light and noise, and therefore on the quality of the habitats and the species that occur there.

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Persecution

The direct persecution of species is an old human practice and in the past, it has driven species to extinction. Trapping and shooting of mammals is still done. Often non-selective methods such as poison (baits) are used , which have a wide impact on many mammals as well as other wildlife.

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Accidental mortality

Accidental mortality happens as a result of collisions on roads, railways and, for bats, at wind farms. Fisheries by-catch, ship strikes- are major threats for marine mammals. In addition, many species are affected by accidental anthropogenic traps, such as entanglement in netting.

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Hunting/overexploitation

Hunting or overexploitation of mammal species is conducted both legally and illegally in Europe. There is generally unreliable data on abundance, and poor regulation of hunting to ensure that there are not negative consequences for mammal conservation.

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Invasive Alien species

Invasive Alien species are a key driver of biodiversity loss globally. In Europe, for example, the American mink has had serious negative impacts on water voles and European mink, whilst Grey squirrels have transmitted infectious diseases to native Red Squirrels in regions where they co-occur.