Ukrainian lawmakers, many of them avid hunters, could soon adopt a law that essentially legalizes poaching, environmentalists warn.
A draft law registered in parliament on Oct. 22 proposes amendments to existing legislation regulating hunting at protected nature reserves. Party of Regions parliamentarians Volodymyr Makeyenko and Leonid Klimov registered the bill that will allow hunting on so called “human landscapes” attached to nature preserves – areas where people have already altered ecological patterns toward servicing needs for food, fuel, fiber, timber, shelter, trade and recreation.
The law essentially legalizes poaching
– Volodymyr Boreiko
If adopted in its current form, environmentalists say the legislative changes will only exacerbate widespread wildlife poaching and lead to further encroachment on what little habitat is left for Ukraine’s endangered species and vanishing wildlife.
Currently hunting is banned on all of Ukraine’s 7,607 nature reserves that occupy 3.3 million hectares covering 5.4 percent of the country’s overall territory, according to the United Nations Development Program.
“The law essentially legalizes poaching,” said Volodymyr Boreiko, director of the Kyiv Eco-Culture Center.
The environmental conservationist said that 20-70 percent of various game animals have disappeared in the last 15 years due to unchecked hunting.
Populations of elk have dropped by 70 percent, wild boar by 32 percent, wild duck by 26 percent, deer by 31 percent, moufflon by 60 percent, wild geese by 58 percent and foxes by 17 percent, Boreiko said.
Over the past 15 years, Ukraine’s “Red Book” of endangered species has increased its listed species by almost a third, the UNDP said.
According to Boreiko, hunting is allowed on 78 percent of Ukraine’s territory for different kinds of wildlife which he said should be more than enough for serious game hunters.
“Instead of creating new nature reserves, instead of expanding the territory of existing ones where wildlife can reproduce unhindered, MPs Makeyenko and Klimov want to reduce this insignificant area of their lives where they have sanctuary,” he said.
Makeyenko and Klimov could not be reached for comment.
Ukraine occupies 6 percent of Europe’s territory, but it possesses about 35 percent of Europe’s biodiversity, according to the United National Development Program.
According to Boreiko, some 150,000 annual cases of poaching are recorded by authorities. He said annually there are actually 15 million cases of poaching.
Black list of Ukraine’s trophy game hunters
Editor’s Note: The following is a list prepared by environmentalists of high profile and influential Ukrainian officials who are alleged to have targeted game unfairly.
| Name of politician | Alleged poaching act |
| Ihor Bakai | The former head of state-owned gas monopoly Naftogaz, Bakai is alleged to have organized Ukraine’s first elite hunting club valued at $2 million where the nation’s top government officials shot at wild boar with automatic guns from hunting towers. The Trakhtemyrovske hunting entity is alleged to have more than 40 different hunting weapons valued at $500,000. |
| Leonid Kuchma | Former President Leonid Kuchma in 2002-2003 allegedly organized poaching hunts in a Crimean nature reserve for then President Vladimir Putin. Environmentalists allege that during his presidency a network of “imperial hunts” were given sanction throughout Ukraine. Safaris were organized in protected nature reserves in Crimea and Azaov-Sivashky Natioanl Park. |
| Oleksandr Volkov | The Party of Regions member of parliament is alleged to own 30 hunting weapons valued at $200,000. He is alleged to be an avid hunter favoring Ukrainian wild boar and deer as well as African safari hunts for giraffes, rhinoceros and zebras. |
| Valeriy Samoplavsky | A former member of parliament, Samoplavsky was also in the 1990s the minister of the forestry industry and is a reputed supporter and organizer of “imperial hunts” in Ukraine. |
| Leonid Kravchuk | Contemporary Ukraine’s first president, Kravchuk is reputed to be an avid supporter of game hunting in Ukraine. In one interview, Kravchuk allegedly said: “A hunter kills a wild boar for Hr. 4,000. If the boar knows that he is being killed for this amount of money then he’d be happy…”. It was during his presidency that “imperial hunts” blossomed. |
| Nestor Shufrych | A former member of parliament and emergencies situation minister, Shurfych is credited for organizing one of Ukraine’s first private safaris. He even tried making the Velykodobriansky National Zoological Wildlife Preserve into his own private safari hunting grounds. |
| Volodymyr Sivkovych | A former parliamentarian and aide to former President Leonid Kuchma, Sivkovych is a reputed game hunter. In one television show, he was shown killing a roe deer after which he was shown smiling while dragging its bloody carcass on the ground. He often voted against legislative bills that prevented poaching in Ukraine. |
| Yevhen Kushnyariov | Killed while illegally hunting in eastern Ukraine, this former member of parliament was an avid game hunter. He was shot dead accidentally while engaging in offseason hunting in Kharkiv oblast. Another member of parliament, Dmytro Shentsev from the Party of Regions was with him on the hunt. |
Source: Kyiv Eco-Cultural Center, http://ecoethics.ru
