Hunting in the Balkans

While the fight against the hunting of migrant birds in the Mediterranean area is crowned with ever more successes, the persecution of protected species is increasing in the newly acceded EU states Bulgaria and Romania. The hunting of migrant birds, which has been banned in the EU for years, has long been a multi-million-Euro industry for hunting trip travel agencies and the Bulgarian and Romanian economies. In the past few years bird hunting in these Balkan states has become a hot tip for hunters from all over Europe. The hunting season is extremely long, the bag quotas generous, and the list of huntable species includes Skylark, Thrushes, Turtle Dove, Jack Snipe and Snipe.

Because of the incredible extent of the bird slaughter in these countries, CABS appealed to the European Commission, before the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU in 2007, demanding that the brutal hunting of birds should come to an end. In cooperation with our partner organisation Green Balkans, and in the context of Bulgaria’s EU membership, we are campaigning for a clear limitation of bird hunting and a sensitization of the police force in respect of the poaching problem. In addition, in 2006 we established a comprehensive monitoring programme of the important wetland areas of South and East Bulgaria by [gamewardensbulgaria]volunteer game wardens[/ID], financed exclusively from donations to CABS.