Government funding for breeding programmes for endangered species may be phased out, the Telegraaf reported on Friday.

Junior economic affairs minister Sharon Dijksma is keen to leave future programmes to charities and private initiatives, the paper says.

Dijksma, speaking during a parliamentary debate on biodiversity, referred to an experiment in Salandse Heuvelrug district where whisky company Famous Grouse is funding an experiment to strengthen the Dutch black grouse population by importing birds from Sweden.

‘The government is no longer the first line investor when it comes to single species,’ the minister said.

The government was a major funder of efforts to reintroduce the korenwolf, or wild hamster, to the Netherlands after the population shrank to just a few breeding pairs.