Gray partridges and turtle doves in steep decline

Getty: UIG. Gray partridge and turtle doves in decline: Brace of grey partridges. IMAGE

12/7/12

Britain's Royal Society for Protection of Birds says the two icons are in alarming decline.

LONDON — Just try finding a partridge in a pear tree in Britain these days.

Britain's Royal Society for Protection of Birds says the two icons of the Christmas song — gray partridges and turtle doves — are in alarming decline. It said authorities should act to prevent them from becoming just distant memories within the famed "Twelve Days of Christmas" song.

The society says the number of partridges have dropped 30 percent. Turtle doves are even worse off — with a 60 percent decline in numbers. The society warns, at this rate, the dove will face extinction by the middle of the next decade.

Society spokesman Grahame Madge said Friday that budget cuts by the British government and the European Union threaten farm programs that support wildlife like the birds.

Fifteen-year-old Michael Westley, who died Sunday, was the youngest victim in a series of shootings that left more than three dozen other people wounded.