“From September to the end of December it will be possible to hunt moose in the Lublin, Podlasie, and Warmia and Mazury regions. Meanwhile, in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Mazovian, and Pomeranian provinces, it will be only possible to shoot moose east of the Vistula river”, we can read in the draft resolution authored by the Ministry of Environment.
The moratorium on moose culling has been in effect since 2001, when their headcount was around 2 thousand, while now there are nearly 20 thousands of them.
As we can read in the draft amendment to the resolution on determining hunting periods for game animals, from 1 September to 30 November it will be legal to hunt bulls, i.e. males. The hunting period for cows (females) and calves (the young) is to be in effect from 1 October to 31 December.
According to the draft resolution, moose hunting will be authorized only in some areas of the country. In the Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Mazovian, and Pomeranian, it will be only possible to shoot moose east of the Vistula river. Meanwhile, in the Lublin, Podlasie, and Warmia and Mazury regions, hunting will be possible all throughout their territory.
“A greater population density has been noted”
In the draft resolution, we can read that at present the moose population in Poland is around 20 thousand.
“Population densification has been noted in many hunting districts within the suggested areas, with headcounts equal to or higher than 5 animals per 1000 ha. The information collected from forest rangers and hunters indicates growing damages in forests due to young trees being broken, crops and young growth (especially that of pines) trampled over and browsed”, it was added.
Other arguments for lifting the moratorium for moose culling include: the growing damage to farming crops caused by moose (in 2016, more than 4 million worth of damages were paid), or the ever increasing number of traffic accidents involving those animals.
The moratorium, i.e. the temporary suspension of the authorization to shoot moose has been in place since 2001 and was introduced to protect those animals. In the late 20th century, their population stood at 1.7 thousand.
For moose, the moratorium in effect is not limited by time and introduces a year-round ban on culling this species.
“Culling is a natural thing”
That the ministry of environment is considering the option to lift the moratorium has been advised in early June by the vice-minister of environment, Andrzej Konieczny.
“It seems inevitable at this point to take decisive, brave decisions”, Konieczny said back then. He went on to add that numerous complaints were received by the ministry, with respect to damages caused by moose, from various communities, local governments, organizations, private individuals, associations, MPs.
Konieczny said that the use of a population means “nothing other than culling, which is a natural thing”.
“In this case, it involves the fact that due to some negligence on the part of our predecessors we have led, not only for moose, but also for the boar population (...), to a certain aberration when it comes to management”, Konieczny said. He pointed out that in 2014, during the rule of the Civic Platform and Polish Peasant Party coalition, a decision was taken to bring back moose culling. In the end, it was retracted, however.
“Moose come in conflict with humans”
Invoking the data from the National Police Headquarters’ traffic accidents and collision recording system, Konieczny informed that in the years 2010 to 2015 there were 115 thousand collisions or cases of cars hitting animals and 1.1 thousand accidents, of which 49 with fatalities. “Animals get out into roads, motorways, there are complaints from motorway administrators”, the vice-minister said.
He added that “there are places, farming areas” where you can see with your own eyes that moose are in abundance, even if there are disputes as to the sources of data or the moose counting methodology. He estimated that moose “come into conflict with humans, the economy and with safety assurance”. “And public authorities are obliged to assure safety”, Konieczny said.
Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl
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