Ecologists at a press conference at the Sputnik Kyrgyzstan media center spoke about the interests of officials who oppose the introduction of a hunting moratorium in the republic.
According to activist and photojournalist Vlad Ushakov, corrupt Kyrgyz officials often act in the interests of foreign hunters seeking illegal trophies.
On Thursday, a bill will be submitted for a vote in the Jogorku Kenesh that provides for a hunting moratorium until 2030. The proposal does not apply to the culling of wolves, foxes, and jackals, necessary for regulating their population.
“We see selfies against the backdrop of bleeding Marco Polo sheep, mountain goats, marals, and even snow leopards. The National Academy of Sciences authorized hunting rare species. This contradicts scientific and ecosystem approaches that currently exist in global practice but are not implemented in Kyrgyzstan,” said Ushakov.
The executive director of the environmental movement “BIOM,” Anna Kirilenko, stated that a ban on hunting in the country must be introduced as soon as possible.
“Last year, 72 criminal cases were opened against employees of the State Agency for Environmental Protection, that is, hunting farms themselves engage in poaching. A moratorium will help establish order in this area,” said Kirilenko.
She noted that the mentioned law calls for the introduction of not a total ban on hunting, but a moratorium on the culling of ibexes, mountain sheep, marals, and mountain goats.
According to ecologist with 50 years of experience Emil Shukurov, if at the beginning of the 1990s Kyrgyzstan was the most environmentally prosperous country among the former Soviet republics, now the situation has significantly worsened due to illegal logging and animal culling.
“27 years ago, we had 20 types of ecosystems — we have lost half, and the remaining ones do not support ecological stability. Hunting in Kyrgyzstan is destroying the nature of the country. The ecosystem will soon cease to be self-regulating due to hunting and illegal grazing,” said Shukurov.
He noted that the population of wild animals in the Kyrgyz Republic is sharply declining, as corrupt schemes are in place that ensure their illegal culling.
“Many employees of the State Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry are themselves participants in these schemes. The head of the agency should be held accountable along with individual employees,” added Shukurov.
The red-listed animals in Kyrgyzstan include 26 species of mammals and 53 species of birds, including Marco Polo sheep, mountain goats, argali, ibexes, cranes, falcons, ospreys, and others.
The following responded to questions from the press:
