Status and Conservation
This species has an estimated range of 1-10 million square kilometers (0.38-3.8 million sq mi.) and a population of between 1.5 and 2 million individuals in Europe alone. There is some evidence of a population decline, but the species is not believed to approach the IUCN Red List thresholds of a population decline of more than 30% in ten years or three generations, and is therefore is evaluated as Least Concern.
As reported by the late Spanish researcher Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente in his "Fauna" series, the NW Spanish subspecies Tetrao urogallus cantabricus-an Ice Age remnant-was threatened in the 1960s by commercial gathering of holly fruit-bearing branches for sale as Christmas ornaments -a practice imported from Anglo-Saxon or Germanic countries.
In Scotland, the population has declined greatly since the 1960s because of deer fencing, predation and lack of suitable habitat (Caledonian Forest). The population plummeted from a high of 10,000 pairs in the 1960s to less than 1000 birds in 1999. It was even named as the bird most likely to become extinct in the UK by 2015. However, due to the hard work of the RSPB and other organisations it may now be making a modest recovery.
Read more about this topic: Western Capercaillie
Famous quotes containing the words status and/or conservation:
“Recent studies that have investigated maternal satisfaction have found this to be a better prediction of mother-child interaction than work status alone. More important for the overall quality of interaction with their children than simply whether the mother works or not, these studies suggest, is how satisfied the mother is with her role as worker or homemaker. Satisfied women are consistently more warm, involved, playful, stimulating and effective with their children than unsatisfied women.”
—Alison Clarke-Stewart (20th century)
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (18621932)