20,000 hunters on first day of season

Around 20,000 hunters went out on Sunday, the first day of the pheasant hunting season, game fund spokesman Petros Anayiotos said on Tuesday.

He added that hunters are meant to register all the game caught on the Artemis Cy application.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency (CAN), Anayiotos said that in the first hunting outing, the game fund made five complaints about people hunting in a prohibited area.

Checks on hunters were carried out from Saturday night until Sunday night and of the five complaints, one was made in Paphos, one in Larnaca and three in the Limassol district.

Anayiotos added that when someone hunts in the restricted area, two offences arise. The first is the transport of a hunting weapon in a prohibited hunting area and the second is the hunting/stalking of game within a prohibited hunting area which, he said, both result in a fine of €3,000.

He added that if other offences arise then the fine increases.

Commenting on whether there is an increase in poaching, Anayiotos said the assessment in recent years with the efforts of the Game Service, but also with the implementation of Artemis Cy platfrom is that poaching has decreased.

He added that patrols and checks are carried out on a round-the-clock basis by the game fund throughout the state-controlled areas of Cyprus.

He further explained that the violations mainly concern hunting in restricted areas, not having a hunting licence, not training and marking dogs, and hunting songbirds.

He said that about 500 fines are issued for poaching cases per year, with complaints of poaching of wild animals being rare.

Asked about the recent case of moufflon poaching in Paphos, Anayiotos said that the fund issued and served the suspect with a fine of €23,500 out of court and he has a deadline to pay it.

“If he doesn’t pay, then the case will go to court. When it goes to court, there is a high possibility that the judge will impose an even higher sentence,” he said.