Category: Hunting

Environmental, General News, Hunting

Kenya: Stop the Illegal Wildlife Trade: The former naval officer now leading Kenya’s fight against poaching.

Stop the Illegal Wildlife Trade: The former naval officer now leading Kenya’s fight against poaching

With tourism on pause due to coronavirus, Kenya Wildlife Service has stepped up its battle against illegal wildlife trade, says Director General Brigadier John Waweru

Last year, for the first time since 1999, Kenya recorded zero rhino deaths to poaching.

“We are incredibly proud of that,” says Brigadier John Waweru, who left the navy to take up the role of Director General of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) two years ago. “It’s not just luck, it’s down to lots of hard work and dedication, especially in a pandemic year.“

Elephant poaching has also reduced from 350 a year five years ago to just 11 in 2020, which is the lowest recorded yearly total ever. “I believe it is not a pipe dream to get Kenya’s poaching level to zero.”

In the past the east African nation’s high levels of rhino and elephant poaching have threatened the survival of both species and fuelled the corruptive, corrosive illegal wildlife trade.

In 2016, 14 Kenya rhinos were slaughtered, and nine the following year. The deaths don’t just decimate critical wildlife populations, they also put the livelihoods of millions who depend on tourism for a living at risk.

Last year was a year like no other. Mr Waweru says the pandemic caused a 92 per cent drop in tourism revenue in Kenya, and there were widespread fears of a poaching uptick due to fewer eyes on the ground. Yet those fears proved to be unfounded.


“While Covid continues to be a huge crisis, there was no poaching increase,” said Mr Waweru. “Wildlife has flourished.

“Without tourists I think poachers might think KWS had gone to sleep, but instead we did the reverse and enhanced our efforts.

“At the start of the pandemic we found there was more interest in bushmeat poaching, but thanks to a sustained, aggressive campaign to help people understand it is not an alternative to beef, we were able to curtail it quickly.”

Mr Waweru says that it is only by educating and empowering Kenyans in the protection of wild animals that the war against poachers will eventually be won.

“To succeed there must be a very close interaction with the people that live alongside wildlife,” he says.

“The KWS provides training and support to help people to co exist with wildlife and to understand their value to all of us.

“Poachers do not operate in isolation. Thanks to the interaction we have with communities, anyone who sees or suspects wildlife crime alerts us. In this way we can alienate or apprehend potential poachers.

“Wildlife does not belong to KWS, it belongs to every Kenyan; it is our shared heritage.”

You could be forgiven for thinking the camo-uniformed, highly regimented KWS is an arm of the military rather than sitting under the department of tourism.

Set up in 1989 amid widespread corruption and insecurity in African parks, the KWS has worked alongside charity partners to transform wildlife security and stabilise the tourism sector.

In the three decades since, Kenya’s elephant population has more than doubled to an estimated 34,000, along with 1,258 rhinos.

Protecting these endangered animals, in addition to the mosaic of other wildlife, is a hugely complex and unending task.

Mr Waweru believes his military background enables him to face the challenges of being KWS’s Director General.

“When I was a naval officer I patrolled and apprehended those involved in illegal fishing or dumping.

“As an enforcement arm, when you go out and you expect to see resistance; to meet someone who is armed, just like you.

“So I understand what kind of dangers KWS troops face daily. I have been shot at when I was a UN military observer in Bosnia.”

When Mr Waweru began his new role after 36 years of public service, he announced that there would be changes in KWS, with all staff encouraged to focus their efforts on implementation, in line with his mission to restore the organisation to its former glory.

There was also warning that anyone who attempted to “pull in the opposite direction” would have to be let go. Collaboration, conservation and enterprise are Waweru’s ethos, with a strong emphasis on mutually beneficial partnerships.

“Kenya has suffered heavy poaching in the past, and inefficiency and low morale within the teams conserving and managing wildlife,” says Mr Waweru.

“I think there was a time of a bit of lethargy, but now there is a feeling of renewed energy in KWS. And we can see the results of that energy in how we are successfully protecting wildlife.

“KWS does not work in isolation, but through strong relationships with the police, intelligence services and other organisations such as Kenya Forest Service or charity Space for Giants.”

KWS established the Case Progression Unit, unique in Kenya, with the close support of Space for Giants, the international conservation organisation that The Independent‘s Stop The Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign supports. 

“What used to happen was rangers would put in all the effort, and face all the risk, to arrest suspected wildlife criminals, but they’d walk free from court days later because cases against them were flawed,” said Katto Wambua, Space for Giant’s Wildlife Justice Senior Advisor.

“The illegal wildlife trade will be defeated just as much in the courtroom as in the bush. It’s a testament to KWS’s coordinated approach to beating wildlife crime, and the DG’s leadership, that they set up and continue to support the Case Progression Unit. It allows the law to be the strong deterrent against wildlife crime that it should be.”

Mr Waweru says KWS feels “privileged” to work with Space for Giants on this pioneering initiative, and he welcomes the work being done by The Independent‘s Stop The Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign.

Mr Waweru adds “by strengthening partnerships wth stakeholders and communities, working with huge dedication to secure wildlife in all spaces we operate in – which is about 18 per cent of Kenya’s landmass – we will continue to see the results.

“No one has a better job than me. I’m one of the luckiest people on earth”.

Stop the Illegal Wildlife Trade: The former naval officer now leading Kenya’s fight against poaching | The Independent

Hunting

Songbirds as a delicacy: a million business in the black market

Songbirds as a delicacy: The consumption of songbirds is an “old tradition” in many Mediterranean countries. For this reason alone, millions of larks, thrushes, robins, and warblers are shot and caught every year.

In Spain they are eaten as paella (with rice), in Cyprus, they are grilled and in Italy, they are served with polenta (corn porridge).

The picture shows robins – freshly caught, plucked, and served with polenta.

Selling the birds is banned anywhere in the EU, but resourceful chefs and criminal gangs have established a well-functioning system to allow the authorities to conduct their business unhindered.

On the island of Cyprus alone, government employees estimate the amount to be over 10 million euros annually!
Hundreds of poachers are caught every year during the bird protection camps run by the Committee against Bird Murder, but butcher shops and restaurants are also regularly checked.

We are quite successful in this, because in many countries hardly any restaurant owner dares to offer songbirds to the public.
Today, the majority of trade takes place on the black market and is therefore no longer too extensive, as it was a few decades ago.

https://www.facebook.com/Komitee.CABS/

And I mean...In no other country in the European Union is bird trapping booming as it is in Cyprus.

Bird trapping in Cyprus has grown into a controversy that encompasses crime, culture, politics, and science. The practice was made illegal more than 40 years ago — but that simply forced it underground. Today, trappers routinely cut wide corridors through vegetation and string fine ‘mist nets’ from poles to catch the birds, which are sent to local restaurants and quietly served.

A platter of a dozen birds sells for €40–80 (US$44–87), and the trade with songbirds is responsible for an estimated annual market of €15 million. The delicacy is so prized and lucrative that it is suspected to be linked to organized crime, and those trying to stop it have been subject to intimidation and violence.

While bird conservationists and authorities have managed to master poaching elsewhere, it is hardly controllable in the Greek-speaking part of the Mediterranean island.

High-profit margins and a low risk of getting caught make bird trapping a lucrative source of income for many poachers.
Because the “connoisseurs” are ready to shell out more than 40 euros for the meager meal! The catchers themselves receive around 4 euros per bird.
The tender bird bones become soft during the preparation and are eaten along with them.

The police are already talking about the “caviar of the 21st century” because of the profit margins and are now afraid of professional poachers.
They do not shy away from violence if they see their lucrative business endangered.
Committee employees have also felt this at the bird protection camps, where they were assaulted more than once.
Poachers are shooting at activists’ cars with shotguns, they are throwing stones at them and spraying them with swine piss.

In France, there are even whole villages that hunt activists.

Therefore: Our greatest task for the future is to educate future generations about nature and animal welfare.

My best regards to all, Venus

Hunting

Fox hunting : organized animal cruelty

As a leisure activity, hunters across Germany kill up to half a million foxes in the cruelest way every year – many of the animals are “only” shot or downright crushed and mutilated in traps.

Foxes are a living target for hunters; there is no reason for the massive hunting of predators, neither from a wildlife biological nor from a health point of view. Politics must finally act and put an end to the senseless killing of useful animals.

Pain and suffering – what hunting means to wild animals. Shot … and dead!

Fox with stomach injuries-Image: pelli

In many cases, this is not the case. Studies in Great Britain have shown this, among other things. The accuracy is poor, every second fox is only wounded by a gunshot wound but not dead. Two-thirds of wild boars were shot dead after a driven hunt: in the back, in the stomach, or in the legs. Approx. 60% of the female animals in the deer were shot in the stomach.

According to the Veterinary Association for Animal Welfare, up to 70 percent of wild animals do not die immediately, especially during driven hunts, but rather suffer excruciating jaw, stomach, and barrel shots.

Lower jaw shot away: This young wild boar starved and died of thirst

Most foxes are hunted during the winter months. The snow makes hunting easier and the otherwise vigilant animals are careless because now is the mating season for foxes. For many fox pups who see the light of day from March, this means that they will grow up without the fox father. But it has a very important function in their rearing due to the procurement of food.

As a result, the young foxes are often physically weakened, their ability to survive is much lower than that of fox pups that were raised with a provider.

Little is known to the public that trapping is still allowed in Germany.
Both manslaughter traps and live traps can cause extreme animal suffering.
Most of the animals try to get the bait out with their paws. Then the safety stirrup slams shut and the leg is crushed.
Many foxes and cats will pull at it until they can escape with limbs half severed.
Fox mothers, who know their young are hungry in the burrow, even bite off their paws to escape.

Numerous studies now show that fox hunting does not “regulate” the fox population, nor does it contain wild diseases (e.g. distemper, mange, fox tapeworm), or makes a meaningful, sustainable contribution to the preservation of threatened species. Fox populations regulate themselves based on social fabric, food availability, and disease.

Fox hunting is prohibited in Luxembourg and other countries and regions – there are no problems with overpopulation there.

Please sign the Petition: https://www.peta.de/kampagnen/fuchsjagd-stoppen/

And I mean…Every year in January and February foxes are hunted even more intensely and ruthlessly in Germany than they already are.

The so-called “fox weeks” are held right in the middle of the mating season – now even a whole fox month, preferably during the full moon weeks in January and February.

During a defined period of time, as many hunters as possible take part, often across territories, to shot on the fox. As a result, the “loden jackets” enjoy (!) a few dozen dead foxes.

In almost every place cross-territory fox hunts are organized, to which territorial hunters and young hunters are invited in order to kill as many foxes as possible. After the hunt, the animals are lined up in a line and the killings are celebrated by the hunters.

According to Section 17 of the Animal Welfare Act, it is forbidden to kill or harm an animal without good cause.
Nothing else happens when hunting foxes.
Animal protection has been anchored in the Basic Law since 2002 and is to be regarded as a binding asset with constitutional status.
The state protection goal of “animal protection” has the status of a fundamental right – but not hunting.

Thus the hunting law is subordinate to animal welfare.

Unfortunately, the hunter’s lobby is well networked in government circles and politics. In Luxembourg, on the other hand, the government was not impressed by the lies and slogans of the hunters and in April 2015 enforced a fox hunting ban that continues to this day.

The result: “No major problems”. The Luxembourg hunting association “Fédération Saint-Hubert” nevertheless tried to take legal action against the hunting ban – without success.

In 2016, the administrative court upheld the ban on fox hunting and the hunters’ flimsy arguments were clearly dismissed by the judge.

Hunting in Germany is an unlawful area.
According to their own statements, 380,000 hunters kill around 5 million wild animals in Germany every year.

The truth probably looks even worse: Wildtierschutz Deutschland e.V. estimates that a total of over 9 million animals are killed by hunting in Germany every year.

The hunters carry out these executions with legal government assistance.
“Hunters and the state go hand-to-hand in the forest”, where the murderers, heavily armed to the teeth, kill defenseless animals

A civilized country is not understood as such if it brutally massacres 500,000 foxes annually and proudly presents itself in the media as a potent -execution- gang.

A civilized country is understood as such when it feels and practices respect, compassion, and protection for every species of animal.

And it is therefore a shame for our society, by silence and passivity to give a minority of 0.45% the right to decide about life and death to defenseless animals.

My best regards to all, Venus

Hunting

“White Bear Hunting”

This tragic photo was taken by Lennart Nilsson * in the 1940s in Spitzbergen / Norway.
Even then, it showed the brutality and horror of trophy hunting and the capture of wild animals.

The little bear’s mother was killed.
The baby bear stayed in this position all day and all night, crying sadly for his mommy.
He didn’t want to eat or drink anything.
With this sad photo, which unfortunately mercilessly and honestly reflected reality, Nilsson wanted to show us in an uncompromising way that it is not the bear that is the beast, but the trophy hunter who killed it.

* Lennart Nilsson (1922 – 2017), photographer and science filmmaker, born in Sweden, is known for his pioneering work in the imaging of embryos and microscopic images of human body tissue, bacteria and viruses.

In 1947, this photo was one of its first published and was used to illustrate an article called “White Bear Hunting”.
Nilsson commented on the content of this article at the time with the words:
“Man is the cruelest predator on the planet …”!

https://www.facebook.com/marschfuerdietiere/

And I mean..Trophy hunting, like any other type of hunting, is an unethical and terrible result of the sadistic abyss of human actions and a product of today’s affluent society.

It is cowardly animal murder of living, loving, pain-sensitive beings. Many animals are threatened with extinction.

Nevertheless, they are killed out of sheer lust for murder.

A few affluent hunters obviously have a lot of fun doing harm to other living beings and disturbing the natural balance.
This hunt is all about the trophies as bed rugs or wall decorations over the fireplace of a hunting room.

The United Nations assumes that a high percentage of all animal species that are extinct are caused by the help of pathological hunters. It has been proven that hunters reduce biodiversity.

Grizzly bear killed by trophy hunters.

Germany also still allows the import of hunting trophies and not only that! the government also supports it with development aid.
This type of hunt, which is extremely ill in character, must be stopped globally.

My best regards to all, Venus

Environmental, General News, Hunting

Japan: They Love Killing Whales – Campaigners condemn killing of minke whale trapped in nets in Japan.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/11/campaigners-condemn-killing-of-minke-whale-trapped-in-nets-in-japan

Campaigners condemn killing of minke whale trapped in nets in Japan

Animal killed with what appeared to be exploding harpoon, after one ‘half-hearted’ attempt to free it

Animal welfare campaigners have condemned the killing of a trapped minke whale off the coast of Taiji, a town in Japan best known for its annual dolphin cull.

The young whale, which had been trapped inside nets since 24 December, was killed early on Monday morning before being taken ashore wrapped in blue tarpaulin, according to the Humane Society International (HSI).

Ren Yabuki, an animal rights activist who filmed the whale throughout its 19-day ordeal, said fishermen tied a rope around its tail fin and forced its head beneath the water, where it took around 20 minutes to die.

Death in such situations usually occurs because the whale clamps its blowhole shut and suffocates.

https://08a329b999cc698168698249c8f9dd9c.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html “Oh, no! The fishermen have killed the minke whale now,” Yabuki can be heard saying as he continued to film. “I’m so sorry … oh, no.”

HSI said it was “devastated” and “horrified” by the whale’s death, days after it and other animal welfare groups had called for its release.

“We feel saddened by this dreadful outcome. It is soul-destroying to think that by merely lifting the net three weeks ago, this poor animal could have been swimming free instead of being trapped in prolonged distress only to be harpooned and butchered for commercial sale in local markets,” HSI’s animal welfare programme manager, Georgie Dolphin, said in a statement.

The local fishing cooperative said last week it would attempt to free the whale, which measured about four or five metres in length, but added that the animal’s size and strong tidal currents could make that impossible.

Yabuki, the director of the Japanese NGO Life Investigation Agency, said he had witnessed fishers make only one half-hearted attempt to free the animal soon after it became trapped.

Japan abandoned its “scientific” whaling programme in the Antarctic after years of international pressure, but resumed commercial whaling in its own waters in July 2019. This year Japanese whalers will be permitted to catch up to 383 large whales, including 171 minkes, HSI said.

“While we mourn the tragic passing of this animal, we know that a similar brutal end comes to many more whales off the coast of Japan every year. They are the silent victims of Japan’s continued commercial whaling” Dolphin said. “What was rare was for it to be witnessed.”

Taiji, located in a remote part of the Pacific coast, attracted global attention after the 2009 release of the award-winning documentary The Cove, which followed fishers as they pursued dolphins in the town’s annual “drive hunts”.

Some of the animals are spared and sold to aquariums and marine parks for huge sums, while others are slaughtered for their meat.

Taiji’s fishers have defended the dolphin cull, telling the Guardian that hunting cetaceans was part of the town’s heritage and a vital source of income for the local economy.

  • This article was updated on 12 January to correct the description of how the whale was killed.

Regards Mark

Great article by The Guardian as always !

Hunting

Six gorilla rangers murdered in Congo’s Virunga national park

Virunga National Park, Africa’s most biodiverse protected area, exists to protect 1/3 of the world’s wild mountain gorillas, over one thousand species of mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian, and provide a brighter future to more than four million people affected by conflict.

 

It is with immense sadness that Virunga National Park confirms the deaths of 6 Park Rangers in an attack by armed assailants on the morning of Sunday 10th January 2021. 1 other Ranger was seriously wounded in the assault.

The Ranger has been evacuated to a hospital in Goma and his injuries are no longer considered life-threatening.

At approximately 07.30am local time, the Rangers were ambushed while on foot patrol inside the Park. The attack took place near Kabuendo, which is located near the border of the Park, in the Central sector, between Nyamilima and Niamitwitwi.

Virunga Park-Ranger and his friend-gorilla

Preliminary investigations indicate that the Rangers were taken by surprise and had no opportunity to defend themselves and that those responsible for the attack are local Mai-Mai groups.

The identities of the Rangers who lost their lives are:

-BURHANI ABDOU Surumwe, aged 30 years
-KAMATE MUNDUNAENDA Alexis, aged 25 years
-MANENO KATAGHALIRWA Reagan, aged 27 years
-KIBANJA BASHEKERE Eric, aged 28 years
-PALUKU BUDOYI Innocent, aged 28 years
-NZABONIMPA NTAMAKIRIRO Prince, aged 27 years

Virunga National Park deeply regrets the tragic loss of life among its Rangers, who work tirelessly and with the dedication to protect both the Park and the neighboring communities from the tyranny of armed groups.

Their sacrifice will not be forgotten nor be in vain.

The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Virunga National Park are with the families and friends of all the victims, as well as the injured Ranger.

The Rangers of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature are agents of the Congolese State. They do not have military status and their actions do not fall under the law of conflict. All efforts will be undertaken to bring the perpetrators to justice and sustain the rule of law within the Park.

Virunga National Park remains committed to delivering development initiatives that benefit local people and the wider region, and to working in partnership with local communities to bring peace and prosperity to many millions of people whose lives have for too long been blighted by conflict and the activities of armed groups.

The Virunga National Park (Parc National des Virunga), in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, is 7,800-square-kilometres (3,000 sq mi) stretching from the Virunga Mountains in the South, to the Rwenzori Mountains in the North, bordering Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and the Rwenzori Mountains National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.

The park was established in 1925 as Africa’s first national park and is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site since 1979.

In recent years poaching and the Congo Civil War have seriously damaged its wildlife population.

Virunga National Park-Rangers

The park is managed by the Congolese National Park Authorities, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), and its partner the Virunga Foundation.

The Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) is a Congolese governmental partner tasked with the protection and conservation of the Virunga National Park and Kahuzi-Biega National Park, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Members of the ICCN are charged with the overall protection of the parks and the endangered Mountain Gorilla.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55611203

Sechs Gorilla-Ranger im Hinterhalt im Virunga-Nationalpark getötet – Six gorilla rangers killed in ambush at DR Congo’s Virunga national park

And I mean…“Every day when the patrols set out, we know that they may come under fire. We know we may lose someone or we may be killed ourselves. This is not an easy profession. Losing your friends and colleagues is very painful. But we chose to do this, and we know the risks,” said Innocent Mburanumwe, the deputy director of Virunga national park.

Getting a job as a ranger in the Virunga National Park is not easy.

First are the challenges of brute force: running several miles while carrying a heavy pack, and climbing 14,000-foot mountains in less than a day.
There are tests of survival skills and orienteering through one of the densest forests on the planet.
Then come the more nuanced abilities: marksmanship, spotting small camouflaged objects through binoculars, and an exam to identify and describe various animals and plants.

And finally, there’s the interview, where the selection panel tries to get to the root of the most important question: how much do you really care?

Is this just a job to you, or something more, something for which you’re willing to risk your life?

When spending time with the animals, the battle-tested, elite Virunga rangers soften, smiling reflexively beneath the surgical masks required to minimize the chances of disease transmission.

“These animals are so amazing,” one ranger says. “It was a switch in my mind – after seeing them, I knew I had to do everything possible to protect them.”

Virunga National Park has always been dangerous!
On December 27, 1985, a staff member found Dian Fossey’s half-naked body in her cabin in Virunga National Park.
The murder was never solved.

It is a shame for humanity that armed guards are needed to protect the last specimens of the mountain gorillas.

We mourn the death of the gangers very much. It is a crime of the worst kind that must be punished as severely as possible

My best regards to all, Venus

General News, Hunting

Germany: 8 destroyed high seats and a 75 year old man is the hero

The Kochel police cleared up a series of sawn high seats in the Walchensee area. The perpetrator is a former police officer. The pensioner confesses.

A former police officer has let his hatred of hunters at “Walchensee” (Bavaria) run free
Since 2018 he has been sawing, among other things, several high seats
He was caught red-handed.

Icon image

The cases go back to 2018, the Kochler police chief announced on Wednesday.

A 75-year-old man from the southern district was identified as the perpetrator.

He confesses and it is a retired police officer

The man was caught red-handed in the forest by one of the victims in August 2020.
The investigation has been ongoing since then.
The officials in Kochel also examined cases from previous years. Until 2018, property damage in the Walchensee area of ​​the perpetrator could be proven, according to the Kochler police chief.

Specifically, there are eight cases with sometimes massive damage to so-called hunting facilities such as high seats and salt licks.

“In some cases, high seats had been completely cut, sometimes only the ladders were sawed,” reports police chief. The property damage is “in the very high four-digit range” (!!!)
The local Hunting Entitled (!!!) and the Bavarian State Forests are affected. Fortunately, no one was harmed in the acts.
It is possible that some high seats were even “climbed in ignorance of the danger”.

The perpetrator confessed to the damage to property.
“As a motive, he named personal problems with hunting wild animals.”

The 75-year-old confessed to some of the cases, while others could be detected by wildlife cameras or the location of the tracks.

“For example, we found traces of paint rubbed off on saws on the suspect.”
The Kochel police have worked through all the cases from previous years in this matter.
The perpetrator has so far not appeared as a criminal offense.

All reports will now be sent to the public prosecutor.

The perpetrator must expect a fine or even a low-threshold prison sentence.

https://www.merkur.de/lokales/bad-toelz/kochel-am-see-ort28931/pensionierter-polizist-75-saegt-hochsitze-um-90155675.html#idAnchComments

And I mean…First of all, respect and solidarity belong to the man.
In addition, for one more reason: despite his old age, he continued to try to eliminate the execution places in the forest.

Some things should be clarified here about the status of these murder seats.
Not all are legal, but who dares to ask?
And each scrap of them costs a maximum of 200 euros, most of which are built by the hunter himself.

These “salt licks” are nothing more than bait that the hunters put in front of the high seats so that the future victims get used to them and visit the site regularly.
This is the only way the hunter can create a safe execution site for the future.

Of course, the hunters claim that by fattening them up, they help the weaker ones to survive the hard winter in the forest.
But if the winters are as mild as it was in 2020, it should go without saying that no hunter feeds.
But they do it anyway.

By Ohikulkija – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30977723

So.. why are hunters so strongly against a possible feeding ban?
It is clear !! Because by regularly feeding the animals, any city hunter can play the nature boy in the fields and hallways and shoot a deer quickly and not sit and wait long in the high seat.

It is creepy when suddenly there is a bang in a high seat in the forest and animals that have been shot (but not dead) fight for their lives.

For someone who has experienced that, it is unforgettable

Therefore we are happy when these execution places are sawed down.
It is not forbidden.

My best regards to all, Venus

General News, Hunting

Sweden: Mass Seal Hunting – Sweden Attempting to Overturn EU Ban – Trophy Hunters ? – Please Read On….

 

2/1/21

Hans has been in contact with us direct from Sweden.

There is a situation now where seals (3 species) can be shot and killed – and this ‘service’ is being snapped up by organisations who are trying to get trophy hunters to pay and kill.

We are repeating the info from Hans below; complete with the links which have some graphic photos on them.  Note there is also a petition site link if you want to sign against this.

Thanks go to Hans for drawing this issue to our attention, which we are putting out for the world to know about.


Un edited info from Hans:



Here in Sweden, they are now letting people shoot and kill thousands of seals of 3 different species, information here:

 


https://www.thepetitionsite.com/sv/253/746/017/stoppa-s%C3%A4ljakten-nu-demand-and-end-to-the-seal-hunt-now/

Precisely, the killing quota is 3300, and they are also inviting trophy hunters, Swedes as well as foreigners, to pay for hunts. Here is an example of seal trophy hunting in Sweden for sale, containing many grisly images of satisfied customers:


https://www.sealhunt.se/viner/

The price is, 5500 Swedish kroner for a hunt without training, and 3500 Swedish kroner for a hunt with training, it can be done from rocks, islands and even boats. The images contains both male and female customers who paid to shoot these seals in Sweden in 2020. Its everything from baby seals to fully grown adult seals. This is perfectly legal in Sweden and the EU because the products are not commercially sold. Its legal to kill, but not to sell the byproducts of the kill. However on this website you can pay 500 Swedish kroner for someone to preserve the skin so you can bring it home as a trophy.

More images from the same website where the hunts are sold:

https://www.sealhunt.se/var-berattelse/

Thanks for highlighting it!

The ban is on seal products, what many don’t know is that there is not a ban on killing seals as such, for any reason including sport! The authorities justify it with the exact same argument as Canada and Namibia, that the seals eat the fish. 

Out of the 3300 quota, there is a quota of 2000 grey seals, and here you can follow the hunt updates live by the Swedih EPA (Environmental “Protection” Agency)

https://www.naturvardsverket.se/Stod-i-miljoarbetet/Rattsinformation/Beslut/Beslut-om-jakt-och-vilt/beslut-sal/Sal/

So far for the 2020/21 season, the quota has been half filled. The regions reporting most kills are Gävleborg (154), Kalmar (141), and Stockholm, yes, Stockholm the Swedish capital (104).

Furthermore, Sweden is trying to repeal the EU seal products ban, possibly to remove it entirely, or to at least have an opt-out from it. Here you can see an official document from Swedish authorities to the EU. They claim that seal hunt is a long lasting Swedish tradition since well, the last ice age. This is NOT something Sweden proudly boast about very often in international relations. Without the UK being in the EU, it could be considerably easier to repeal the EU seal products ban now. 

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/biodiversity/animal_welfare/seals/pdf/factsheet/Annex%20to%20Sweden%20report%20-%20Comments_from_Sweden_on_the_EU_seal_regime.pdf

 

 

Quote from first part of the document, you can follow the link and read the rest:

“Seal hunt has been a part of Swedish culture and history since the repopulation of the region after the latest ice age. Hunting for seal was a way of getting meat, skin and bones for tools, jewelry and weapons. For the more modern day small scale coastal fisheries the seal has been an important source of meat and skin and a way to get an extra income. The ban on trading with seal products implies large problems for the coastal fishery in Sweden. With the ban fewer people hunt for seal while an increasing population has caused fishstocks with parasites, competition for the fish and the destruction of fishing gear. Aspects raised by national agencies

A key concern highlighted by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency is the effect of the current seal regime through its trade ban which prevents the use of the seal as a resource. The Agency moreover stresses that seal hunting is an integrated part of the Swedish game management and that the way the EU Seal regime works could prevent the effective management of the game population with decreased interest in seal hunting as a result. In particular, this could have a damaging effect on small-scale coastal fishing which depends on hunting and where a proper manegement of the population is key in order to prevent serious damages to catch and equipment.

The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management welcomes a revision of the ban on trade with seal products as this could help to

A short comment on the subject from me even though the good article by Mark said it all.

We are very happy when we receive reports of crime or abuse against animals from our readers.
We inform ourselves daily, but help is always welcome.
Today comes a message from “civilized” Sweden, which proves that when it comes to money, status, and above all corruption in governments, then the old saying from the good Karl Marx applies (analogously), “Animal exploiters of all countries, unite”!

It is hard to believe that a country like Sweden, without economic or social hardship, adopts methods with seal trophies as countries in Africa do with game hunting for trophies, but often out of necessity.

It is also shameful that the Swedish Government and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency have dragged the entire nation into the mud because of some greedy fishermen and their lobbyists in the government and want to obtain a license to execute 2,000 seals.

The government should know (and if not inform itself) that the ridiculous excuse for the dangers in the fishery is not from the hunter seals, but from the criminal industrial fisheries and the climatic damage, it causes.
We have always considered Sweden very civilized when it comes to animal welfare.

In this case, Sweden has to prove that.
Because a trophy ban is a MUST for civilized countries.
We support the enlightened animal rights activists in Sweden and think the petition is great!

Please sign. ALL!

My best regards to all, Venus

 

Hunting

The administrators of the animal population

An Elyria man unintentionally shot and killed his 28-year-old son while deer hunting in Delaware County last week.

Bradley Smith, 63, apparently mistook his son, Andrew Smith of Columbus, for a deer while hunting at dusk, said Tracy Whited, spokeswoman for the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office.

The Smiths were hunting with a group of friends in a heavily wooded area in the 2000 block of Pollock Road, just outside the city of Delaware. The group, who were experienced hunters, had met there for more than 20 years to hunt white-tailed deer during the state’s annual deer gun-hunting week, which ended Sunday.

Whited said Andrew Smith was not wearing any orange hunting clothing when the shooting occurred at about 5:45 p.m. on Dec. 2.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The elder Smith is not facing any charges (!!!), she said.

In Ohio, hunters are legally required to wear orange during the deer-gun season while hunting from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife’s hunting and trapping regulations guide. This requirement applies statewide on both public and private land.
That day, the sunset just after 5 p.m.

“It’s just the worst kind of tragedy,” Whited said. “He thought he was shooting at a deer. It was his son.”

The Delaware County Sheriff’s office, ODNR’s Division of Wildlife, Delaware police, and city fire medics responded to the scene.
A spokeswoman for ODNR’s Division of Wildlife declined to comment, referring The Dispatch to the sheriff’s office…

An estimated 310,000 hunters in Ohio participated in the gun-hunting week from Nov. 30-Dec. 6, according to a news release from the division.

In total, they harvested 71,650 white-tailed deer.

Man fatally shoots son while deer hunting in Delaware County

More: Hunters preparing for deer gun season in Ohio

And I say…Hunters have always claimed they care for the natural population.
Now they have convinced us of it.
The ratio of 1 dead human animal to 71,000 murdered deers is unsatisfactory, of course.
But they are always working to improve the relationship.

As soon as they have reached the mark 1 to 1, the hunting license is worth it

My best regards to all, Venus