Conservation programmes launched to save little owls and ground squirrels

The Czech Ministry of the Environment has launched new conservation projects aimed at saving two critically endangered animal species, the little owl and the ground squirrel.

The ministry aims to expand the habitats of the species, which have been driven to the brink of extinction mainly as a result of intensive farming.

According to biologists from the Czech Academy of Sciences, there are only 100 to 130 pairs of the once widespread little owl in the Czech Republic today. The number of ground squirrels is significantly higher, but they are distributed into isolated colonies.