14
September 2017
By Andy
Coghlan
The
hunting of bears and wolves is back on the agenda in Romania, less than a year
after the government banned trophy hunting. Conservation groups have condemned
the U-turn and are calling on the government to rescind the decision.
The move
was announced
on 5 September by Romania’s environment minister Graţiela
Gavrilescu. It will allow up to 140 bears and 97 wolves to be killed “under
supervision” by the end of 2017, if they’re deemed to be “nuisance animals”
that threaten livestock on farms or frighten people by encroaching into
inhabited areas.
But the
conservation groups fear that the quotas will be used as an excuse to allow
trophy hunting to resume. The government banned that in October 2016.
“It’s
unclear if hunters will be allowed to keep the bodies, or sell body parts,”
says Masha
Kalinina of Humane Society International (HSI). She says the government
has caved in to pressure from hunters, farmers and communities that feel
threatened.
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