The
problem is, although Slovak Republic ratified the Bern
convention, we have an exemption to kill wolves and
bears. This predator was annually protected from 1995,
but our Ministry of Environment asked for the exemption
in 1999 and from this time it is possible to hunt for
wolves on Nov.,Dec. and January. There were officially
hunted about 150 wolves in Slovakia last year - only
one year. Nobody knows how many were poached. This
is bad. The numbers of the whole population of the
wolves in Slovakia are very different. The biologists
say there is no more then 150 wolves (in March) and
the last several years all natality was killed by hunters.
The Low Tatras National Park director thinks there
is about 350 wolves here (before hunting season).
And
of course, hunters say about more then 1000 wolves
in Slovakia, but during the last counting of
large predators in Polana Mountains in the middle
of Slovakia, the real numbers were 3-5 times
smaller then the hunters say.
It
is a paradox ? when the population of the rare
species little increase our state starts regulate
it {by the way 40% of the Slovak Parliament members
are the hunters}. And the real population is
between 100 - 140 wolves here (guess of scientists).
Except
the problem of official hunting the wolves, the
Slovak Republic breaks the Bern convention as
for other predators - Martes martes, Martes foina,
Meles meles, Putorius eversmanii which are not
protected annually and it is possible to hunt
for them. Using the leghold traps is also common,
although it is prohibited, because distribution
of the traps is legal.
It
is very astounding that permission for collective
hunts for wolves in Slovakia is not officially
needed and wolves are commonly treated as varmints.
This status enables to kill as many wolves as
hunters can. There is no management of that.
Please,
I would like to ask you to write your opinion about
this situation to our Government, Ministry of Environment
and the State Nature Conservancy ( the links are
down the mail ). If it is possible, please distribute
this letter to other NGOs.
Thank you very much for your help.
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