The amending bill was tabled to the Commission on Agriculture and Forests by the MRs Emil Dimitrov, Atanas Kambitov, and Dimitar Avramov from GERB. The same proposals were rejected three times by the Parliament in 2008, after the MPs got themselves acquainted with the risk of infringing the EU legislation.
Few days after the attempt of the Prime Minister to discontinue the enforcement of the infringement procedures against Bulgaria, there is a risk of a new one if the proposed amendments to the Hunting Act are adopted.
What is surprising here is that MPs representing GERB disregard the efforts of the Government to take the crisis under control and put to vote controversial texts, which are far from solving Bulgaria’s most pressing problems. The impression is left that private interests and lobbies of certain people again prevail over issues of public significance.
NGOs hope that this negative sybdrom will be taken under control in due time and reiterate that the hunting season in the rest of the European countries, except for Greece and Romania, is considerably shorter. The hunting season in Greece lasts till February 10th, but there is a ban on shooting at game within Natura 2000 sites. Malta was sanctioned by the EC because of the extension of the hunting season.
Scientific studies give explicit indications that in February water birds start forming pairs and migrate backwards to their breeding grounds. Shooting at birds in general – poaching or legal, during the period of migration and breeding, would result in serious deterioration and decline of their populations. Unfortunately, the proposed amendments to the Hunting Act do not provide for any measures against the most serious problem - poaching. What is typical about poaching hunting is that during the hunting season rare and protected species often fall victims to hunters. The bill to be voted does not provide for any measures against the mass application of illegal hunting techniques, such as sound devices, prohibited weapons, as well as hunting after dark and in foggy weather.
For further information please contact:
Dobromir Dobrinov
Tel: +359 (0) 884 004667
е-mail: ddobrinov@greenbalkans.org
Despite the position of the Ministry of Environment and Waters, the amendments to the Hunting Act will be put to a vote in the plenary hall
