Farming threat to butterflies


9 December 1999



Farming ‘threat to butterflies’


ONE in eight of Europes butterflies is threatened with extinction, largely because of the breakdown of traditional forms of agriculture, according to a survey by the Council of Europe.

Some 71 out of Europes 576 species are under threat.

A spokesman for Butterfly Conservation said they could only be saved by a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

A report issued by the government yesterday (Wednesday) also expressed environmental concerns about current farming practice.

It found that intensive farming is continuing to do damage to the countryside in the form of vanishing hedgerows and birds.

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