Overview
- State environmental officials said the 2026 reintroduction will place captive-bred field hamsters on two prepared fields in Nordsachsen.
- Zoo Leipzig has led breeding since 2022 with support from Bergzoo Halle and Tierpark Berlin, raising 226 juveniles in 2024 and 265 in 2025.
- Project staff observed that released animals produced young in the wild, an early sign that the population could take hold.
- The effort is funded with €12.2 million over six years, with 75% from the European Union and the remainder from Saxony, Zoo Leipzig, and the Nordsachsen district.
- Releases depend on “hamster‑friendly” farms that use little to no pesticides, keep varied crop strips, leave 15‑centimeter stubble after harvest, and avoid heavy plowing, as the species remains rare nationwide with numbers unknown and local extinctions in Berlin, Brandenburg, and Mecklenburg‑Western Pomerania; parallel breeding also runs in Metelen and Heidelberg.