Silence of the sparrows

last updated 8 January 2015

London

The once-common house sparrow has disappeared from British cities, and nobody knows why, the Los Angeles Times reported this week. “The population has fallen by 99 percent since 1980,” said sparrow expert Denise Summers-Smith. “This is almost extinction.” Scientists speculate that the die-off could be caused by a food shortage or a new predator—or something that could harm humans as well, such as pollution. Whatever the cause, the decline has been so sudden that British government regulations cannot keep up. While the gray-and-brown bird will be listed as endangered this year, it is also still listed as a pest, to be exterminated at will.