Germany spent 2.5 million euros on 39 hamsters

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The German region paid 119,000 euros to hamster relocation consultants. And the local authorities of Thuringia allocated 2.5 million euros for the relocation of the 39 field hamsters, BILD reports.

The Saxony-Anhalt State Parliament discussed budget expenditure on external consultants in 2023. It turned out that the authorities spent a total of 43.5 million euros on them. This is almost five times more than in the last five years. The regional Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy and Climate Protection awarded 35 contracts worth 3.8 million euros. This amount included 119,000 euros for “selective monitoring of field hamsters” to determine their distribution range. Similar actions with bats cost 49,000 euros, spiders and beetles – 39,000, beavers – 37,000, amphibians and reptiles – more than 250,000.

Hamsters are the biggest spenders. The authorities of Erfurt wanted to expand the territory of one of the schools. To do this, they looked at 18 plots of land and chose one. But it turned out that common field hamsters (cricetus cricetus) live there. Their population in Germany has been declining since the 1970s, so they are protected.

In total, they counted on the site 39 hamsters. It was decided to relocate them to another location. Officials developed a document called the “Master Plan for the Blumenstrasse Hamsters” and allocated each one 64 102 euros. Thus The total cost of relocating the rodents was 2.5 million euroswrites Thüringer Allgemeine.

P.S. I wonder how much the officials pocketed? And just don't tell anyone that there is no corruption in Germany…

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