The water vole, fast heading for extinction in Britain, can still be found at Clifton Ings in York, according to an environmental group.

REFUGE: The water vole has a bolt hole in York

York and Ryedale Friends of the Earth will be calling on passers-by in Parliament Street on Saturday to save the cute creature dubbed Ratty in Kenneth Grahame's famed children's novel, Wind In The Willows.

The public will be asked to sign the petition which calls on the Government to give better legal protection to the vole and other endangered species.

Ninety per cent of the water voles remaining in Britain have been wiped out over the last seven years, which means that it faces extinction by the end of the decade.

Water voles, like Ratty in the book, live along river banks and ditches, but much of this habitat has been lost. In addition the vole often falls prey to increasing numbers of American mink, many of which escaped from British fur farms in the 1960s.

The Countryside Bill, currently going through parliament, will give increased protection for Sites of Specific Scientific Interest, but does not make provision for species living outside these areas.

Gordon Woodroffe, a research fellow at the University of York, and an expert on the water vole, said: "What is important is that, where we do know of colonies of water voles, they should be given maximum protection or they will soon be extinct."

He added: "There has to be some control of mink, but I also know of cases where the voles have been mistaken for brown rats."

Guy Wallbanks, of York Friends of the Earth, which is leading the campaign, wants to make our wildlife laws the best in the world so that our children can continue to enjoy the real Ratty for years to come.

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