NATURE PROTECTION MINISTRY IS SURE THAT FIGHTING POACHING IS ‘EFFECTIVE’
ArmInfo
2010-04-01 17:47:00
Arminfo. The cases of poaching at specially guarded territories
decreased over the last 2-3 years in Armenia, representative of
Armenian Nature Protection Ministry Aram Agayan said at today’s
press-conference.
He said, in particular, that no case of illegal hunting has
been registered in Khostov reservation. He also added that today
the relevant territories are guarded rather effectively, as the
conditions of the relevant services have been improved much, and
salary of employees of these services has been increased. He also
said that poaching cases has sharply decreased outside of the guarded
territories as well.
At the same time, as the head of WWF-Armenia Karen Manvelyan reiterated
many times, the poaching problem is still relevant today.
For instance, 1-2 leopards are killed by poachers in Armenia every
year. The WWF has been implementing the programme on protection
these animals since 2002, but they are still hunted outside the
guarded territories. Leopard is not the only ‘IUCN Red List’ victim
of poachers. Every year ecologists fix cases of hunting mouflons
and Persian wild goats. Incidentally, it is not for the first year
that local and international organizations are trying to draw the
attention of Armenian Nature Protection Ministry to the fact that
announcements are placed at various web sites about the hunt tours in
Armenia to hunt the animals involved in IUCN Red List, for instance –
, which openly invites to hunt mouflons
and Persian wild goats, which cost 7900 – 8900 EUR.