Court maintains ban on hunting wood grouses in Romania
The Brasov Court of Appeal recently decided to suspend the ministerial order that lifted the ban on hunting wood grouses, or western capercaillies, in Romania.
The order, given by environment minister Tanczos Barna on October 10 but signed by the ministry’s general secretary, allowed hunters in Romania to hunt 239 wood grouses, with a quota being set for each county. The highest quota, 38, could be found in Harghita, Barna's home county.
The order lifted a decade-long ban on the hunting of capercaillies. Back in 2011, the last year when wood grouses could be hunted legally, a hunter had to pay up to EUR 1,000 for a single animal.
The wood grouse is an extremely rare species and can be difficult to capture. The number of specimens has reached 11,957 according to some national estimates cited by Digi24. Environmental groups opposed lifting the ban on hunting these birds in Romania by citing the lack of precise data.
The court agreed with an appeal made by one environmental NGO, the Alliance against Abuse Association (Alianta pentru Combaterea Abuzurilor), and maintained the ban for now.
(Photo source: Silviu Matei/Dreamstime.com)
