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Otters 'prompt vole resurgence' | Otters 'prompt vole resurgence' |
(about 4 hours later) | |
The return of the otter to many British waterways is helping to reverse the decline of another species - the water vole - a study suggests. | |
The research has been done by conservationists at Oxford University, who are monitoring the government's commitment to promote biodiversity. | |
Otters have been taking on the water voles' enemy - American mink - which thrived after escaping from fur farms. | Otters have been taking on the water voles' enemy - American mink - which thrived after escaping from fur farms. |
The study is part of a review of the government's biodiversity commitments. | |
Professor David Macdonald, director of the wildlife conservation unit at Oxford, said the combating of American mink by otters may create "conditions for the recovery of the water vole". | |
However, he warned it was "too late" to leave the species alone to recover. | However, he warned it was "too late" to leave the species alone to recover. |
"We're now looking at reintroducing water voles as part of a recovery programme," he said. | "We're now looking at reintroducing water voles as part of a recovery programme," he said. |
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