– I perceive this as an attempt to overturn the table. But it will not be as some people think, that if they have dealt the cards so far, it will continue to be like this – said Mikołaj Dorożała at a press conference. After hunters withdrew from the talks held at the Ministry of Climate, the deputy minister announced the continuation of the debate on the hunting reform and invited hunters – not necessarily from the PZŁ board – to the table.
At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Climate and Environment began to hold talks with hunters, naturalists and ecologists on changes in hunting. A special team was established, whose work includes removing several species of birds from the list of game species (teal, common pochard, tufted duck, coot).
The next meeting of the team was held this week. However, during it, representatives of the Polish Hunting Association broke off talks and left the ministry.
“Maybe we should kill 400 deer a day”
In the recording, they accuse the ministry of not wanting a fair conversation with hunters. Prof. Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz, an expert from the Supreme Hunting Council, said that on the other side of the table there are not experts but “activists”, and the ministry itself “has nothing intelligent to say”. – If no one wants to listen to us, then why do we have to sit there – he said.
Prof. Wanda Olech from SGGW (as she herself noted, “the only woman appointed by PZŁ” to the team) said that the talks were “unfair” and criticized Deputy Minister Dorożała, among others, for his recent statements about “killing 300 deer a day”. – This is an immediate question from me as a person dealing with population management: what is the annual increase in deer? If the population is growing, maybe we should kill 400 deer a day? – she said and assessed that “throwing out numbers that are shocking is not the role of the minister”.
Prof. Olech – as the portal wrote Oko.press – he is scientifically involved in the protection of bison, and privately – in hunting. These two issues are connected because believes that killing bison may be necessary to protect this species.
Hunters also argued that ending the shooting of selected bird species “will have no effect” on the decline in their population. They said that they themselves care about a “stable population” so that they can “use it for hunting purposes”. – We will not give up, we will continue to fight for Polish nature and Polish hunting – said Marcin Możdżonek, president of the Supreme Hunting Council.
At Thursday's press conference, Gazeta.pl asked Deputy Minister Dorożała about the suspension of talks by hunters. He assured that work on the hunting reform is ongoing. – The team will continue to process. The invitation to the PZŁ board is still valid – he said. He added that he is receiving signals from other hunters who declare their willingness to participate in the talks and “will consider it”. – If we have hunters in the field today who are willing to cooperate, then I invite them. And if the PZŁ board is unable to open up to reforms, then that is the board's problem – he said.
– We talked about five species of birds that we want to protect. And PZŁ left the meeting in response. This shows who wants to talk and who doesn't – said Dorożała. The deputy minister pointed out that according to polls, most Polish women and men want to limit bird hunting.
The ministry wants more restrictions, the hunter – less
The changes in hunting discussed by the ministry concern not only the list of game species and restrictions on hunting certain birds. They also concern collective hunting, protection of pregnant sows and the introduction of mandatory medical examinations for hunters who own firearms.
Environmentalists and non-governmental organizations have a number of objections to bird hunting (whose population is falling dramatically). Hunting affects not only game species, but also others, including protected ones. These are sometimes killed by mistake, and the noise of hunting scares away all the birds in a given place. Some birds die immediately from the shot, but many are injured and die in agony. After hunting, waste is left behind, such as shot and shells (which leads to lead contamination). Organizations also argue that bird hunting has no economic significance (which can justify shooting wild boars, for example, which cause damage to crops).
The Polish Hunting Association wants to remove many of the existing restrictions, starting with allowing children to participate in hunting. Hunters also want to be able to shoot animals whose killing is currently prohibited – such as moose. Some would also like to hunt wolves, which are protected. They want to have the right to use handguns, bladed weapons and bows during hunts.
Hunters also want supervision over hunting to be transferred from the Ministry of Climate to the Minister of Agriculture (headed by PSL).
PSL with hunters
Hunters have an ally in the ruling camp – the Polish People's Party. Even before the elections, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, today Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, spoke about it directly at a meeting with hunters. – We can [z koalicjantami] vote differently. The more PSL candidates we choose, the more votes like ours will be. When we are gone, there will be no environment that says so clearly [o postulatach myśliwych – red’] – the politician said then. He mentioned the topic of children's participation in hunting and dog training.
After the elections, Eugeniusz Grzeszczak, a former PSL senator (who had already been elected he was called “on the carpet” at the Ministry of Climate after his statements).
Kosiniak-Kamysz, on the other hand, acts from the position of the Minister of Defence and has established official cooperation between the Polish Hunting Association, the Ministry of National Defence and the armed forces. This is to “strengthen the country's defence”. – We want to use and utilise the skills of hunters who have training and a permit for weapons. They often have more than one type of weapon, more than one training, but decades of experience – said the Deputy Prime Minister.
Just last year a hunter mistakenly shot and killed a soldier on the training ground. Every year there are at least several accidents caused by hunters, often resulting in death. In July, a 29-year-old man will dieł shot by another hunter's gun while preparing for the hunt. A few days earlier, an accident occurred in Wielkopolska. – there a father shot his 25-year-old son while they were both hunting.