--- title: European Hamster France Spends 3 Million Euros to Save description: These guys are adorable AND symbolic canonical: https://time.com/91667/france-is-spending-3-million-euros-to-save-these-hamsters/ author: Bijan Stephen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-08T12:00:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:29.922Z og:title: France Is Spending 3 Million Euros to Save These Hamsters og:description: They're pretty adorable og:url: https://time.com/91667/france-is-spending-3-million-euros-to-save-these-hamsters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4369cac759f27282/69868e6c13c79f584b191fff/188102742.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 188102742 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: France Is Spending 3 Million Euros to Save These Hamsters twitter:description: They're pretty adorable twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4369cac759f27282/69868e6c13c79f584b191fff/188102742.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # France Is Spending 3 Million Euros to Save These Hamsters by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen May 8, 2014 12:00 PM UTC  Hamster HamsterGetty Images by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen May 8, 2014 12:00 PM UTC The French pride themselves on their [superior cultural life](http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2014/04/francois-hollande-affair-french-culture), the _je ne sais quoi_ that’s kept them synonymous with glamour, effortlessness and savoir-faire. That ineffable French-ness extends to all citizens, including, of course, Europe’s last wild hamster—alternately known as the [European hamster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European%5Fhamster) or the Great Hamster of Alsace. Alsace’s regional authorities [have launched](http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/Saving-Le-Hamster.html?258137251&utm%5Fcampaign=googlenews&utm%5Fsource=googlenews&utm%5Fmedium=xmlfeed) a program to save the little rodents from extinction, pledging 3 million euros to encourage farmers to grow alfalfa (which the hamsters apparently have a very strong preference for), and thereby encourage reproduction. This isn’t the first time the government’s had to step in to save the species: In 2011, [the European Court of Justice ruled](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/world/europe/10hamsters.html?%5Fr=0) that France hadn’t done enough to protect the Great Hamster, threatening to impose fines of up to $24.6 million if France didn’t adjust its agriculture and urbanization policies. Naturally, the hamster’s cause is symbolic of a larger struggle. As _The Guardian_ [wrote in 2011](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jul/26/black-bellied-hamster-protection-ruling), “the humble hamster has come to symbolise the battle against urban sprawl and monocropped maize, which now occupies more than 80% of the Alsace plain.” All this for a 10-inch ball of fur that hibernates 6 months out of the year and spends the majority of its life alone. But they’re [so cute](http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/european%5Fhamster.jpg)! ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/91667/france-is-spending-3-million-euros-to-save-these-hamsters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/91667/france-is-spending-3-million-euros-to-save-these-hamsters/"},"headline":"France Is Spending 3 Million Euros to Save These Hamsters","datePublished":"2014-05-08T12:00:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:29.922Z","description":"These guys are adorable AND symbolic","url":"https://time.com/91667/france-is-spending-3-million-euros-to-save-these-hamsters/","keywords":["Newsfeed","France","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4369cac759f27282/69868e6c13c79f584b191fff/188102742.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bijan Stephen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4369cac759f27282/69868e6c13c79f584b191fff/188102742.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"188102742","caption":"188102742","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/91667/france-is-spending-3-million-euros-to-save-these-hamsters/","name":"France Is Spending 3 Million Euros to Save These Hamsters"}}]}] ```