The government says it is planing to act due to a significant fall in the numbers of wild animals.
TIRANA, Jan. 20 – The Albanian government is planning to ban all hunting in the the country for two years to allow wildlife populations to recover.
Environment Minister Lefter Koka said the government is planing to act due to a significant fall in the numbers of wild animals.
The minister said such a drastic measure was needed to stop the further degradation of wildlife, “which is now at a critical minimum” and to impose controls on hunting activities that have been lacking for the last two decades.
Koka also said that independent studies and data collected by the department of biodiversity at the environment ministry have shown that over the past decade there has been a steep decline in Albania’s wildlife population, between 30 to 50 per cent in species that are allowed to be hunted, such as wild rabbits, foxes and mountain quail, but also in the population of species that are protected.
Albania is a place of illegal hunting. It also has a large number of registered and unregistered hunting rifles and the government is not capable to collect fines. Many foreign citizens come to Albania to hunt illegally, officials say.
The government has sent a draft law on a two-year ban moratorium to the parliament.
Albania has used lengthy bans on activities it has a hard time policing in the past. The previous government, for example, banned the use of small boats along the coast in an effort to stop illegal immigration and drug traffic. The move was seen as largely successful.
