Britain protects 33

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

LONDON––British environment
secretary John Gummer on February 1 proposed
the addition of 33 species to the
Wildlife and Countryside Act, the British
equivalent to the ESA, including the basking
shark, stag beetle, water vole, pool
frog, clearwing moth, and pearl mussel,
and recommended delisting only one, the
vipers bugloss moth, which he said is now
out of danger. The basking shark, endangered
by the Asiatic shark fin soup trade,
would become the first shark protected by
British law. The water vole, having a leading
part in the classic British children’s story
The Wind In The Willows, is the “warm
fuzzy” creature on the list, expected to lead
public opinion toward protection of all.
The stag beetle, according to the
Joint Nature Committee, advising Gummer,
is jeopardized by “the increasing trade in
this species, especially on mainland Europe
but also in Britain.” The source of the
demand is that, “Occasionally it is used for
dissection to demonstrate the insect structure
in educational establishments.”