Distribution
The edible dormouse is found throughout much of western Europe, although it is absent from Portugal, Scandinavia, and most of Spain and the British Isles, as well as from the North Sea coasts of France, Germany, and the Low Countries. It is rather more sparsely distributed through central Europe and the Balkans, but can be found as far north-east as the upper Volga River. It is also found on a number of Mediterranean and Baltic islands, including Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, and Crete. Beyond Europe, it is found in scattered populations throughout northern Anatolia, the Caucasus region, and along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.
It was accidentally introduced to the town of Tring in England through an escape from Lionel Walter Rothschild's private collection in 1902. As a result, the British edible dormouse population, now 10,000 strong, is concentrated in a 200-square-mile (520 km2) triangle between Beaconsfield, Aylesbury and Luton.
Though this animal is regarded as a pest by some, in the United Kingdom the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 prohibits certain methods of killing and taking it, and removing them may require a licence.
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