No Hunting in Nature Reserves!

The Kyiv Environmental and Cultural Centre is calling on the Verkhovna Rada to reject the draft law on hunting in nature reserves. Its Director, Volodymyr Boreiko has addressed a second open letter to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Lytvyn with the request “not to shame the Verkhovna Rada and to not pass the scandalous draft law”.

The Centre states that in the last few days, despite numerous protest from the public and the press a draft law has again been tabled on opening hunting in reserves. The draft law No. 7421 is on amendments to the Law “On the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine”

Volodymyr Boreiko points out that the authors of the draft bill are proposing to allow hunting in man-made zones of biosphere reserves, protected zones of reserves and national parks. He says that a virtually identical bill from 22 October 2010 received negative assessments from the Minister for the Environment, the First Deputy Prime Minister, as well as Ukrainian media and environmental organizations, and was soon recalled. Only to be reintroduced under a new name.

He stresses that hunting in present circumstances is environmentally dangerous. Over the last 15 years the number of boar, goats and wild geese, moose and other game have fallen by 30-70% as the result of hunting. At the present time, 75% of Ukraine’s land is used for hunting, while reserves make up only 0.5 % of the country’s territory.

“As a result of such disproportion, wild animals have had virtually all living space where they can peacefully breed taken away”, he says.