Het verhaal van 25 jaar hamsterbescherming in Nederland

The European hamster is critically endangered, especially in the western part of its range. In the early 2000s, it was therefore clear in the Netherlands that a breeding and reintroduction programme was needed. Between 1997 and 2022, other essential conservation measures were also developed and optimised through research and evaluation. These measures focus on increasing the population size, and habitat quality and quantity of the species. INBO studied the status of the hamster in the Netherlands at the request of Province of Limburg (NL). The report describes 25 years of active protection of the hamster in the Netherlands, and also provides insights into what hamster protection should look like in the future.