Georgia: The Environmental Supervision Department of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture employees revealed 400 facts about illegal hunting within two months after the opening of the hunting season for migratory birds.
Most illegal hunting – 96 facts – was recorded in Samegrelo-Upper Svaneti. Ninety-one violations have been reported in Imereti, 58 – Shida Kartli, 46 – Mtskheta-Mtianeti, 37 – Lower Kartli, 35 – Guria, 12 – Kakheti, also 12 – Samtskhe-Javakheti, 7 – Adjara, 2 – Racha-Lechkhumi-Lower Svaneti.
Employees of the Department of Environmental Supervision observed four facts of illegal hunting in the administrative borders of Tbilisi. Three hundred eighty-two of the offenses involved hunting with prohibited weapons or methods. In 18 cases, offenders hunted without paying for a collector to remove migratory birds, and poachers illegally hunted 27 units of starlings.
Within 2 months after the beginning of the hunting season, 381 units of bird-attracting hand-made sound signals were removed.
To detect and prevent illegal hunting, the Department of Environmental Supervision employees implement 24-hour enhanced control throughout Georgia during the hunting season. In addition, an immediate response is made to each message received on the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture’s hotline (153).
It is unlawful for any person required to obtain a hunting license as provided in Code Section 27-2-1 to hunt any migratory game bird, including brant, ducks, geese, swans, doves, rails, woodcock, snipe, gallinules, and coots, without participating in the federal Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program.
Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia is a governmental agency within the Georgian Cabinet in charge of regulating economic activity in the country’s agricultural sector and protecting the environment to increase the sector’s production capacity.
