The Hunters’ and Fishermen’s Society of Moldova threatens to mount protests if the authorities do not approve the hunting quotas for opening the hunting season this year in the nearest future, the Society’s president Oleg Ciocoi told a news conference, being quoted by IPN.

Oleg Ciocoi said that a law that regulates hunting activity in the country was adopted on November 30, 2018. It was to take effect on March 1, 2021. In the period, there were to be adopted a number of normative documents on the hunting rules, the order of forming the hunting stock and others, but these weren’t endorsed.

“In March-May, we did a wild animal count and in June put forward our proposals concerning the hunting quotas for the current season to the responsible ministry. Earlier, the quotas were examined by specialists of the ministry during a month and were submitted to the Government for approval with or without changes. The new law provides the hunting quotas can be approved by the ministry bypassing the Government. In the middle of July, the ministry responded that it cannot approve the hunting quotas in the absence of the normative framework,” stated Oleg Ciocoi.

He considers this argument is unfounded and a difference should be made between the normative documents and the hunting quotas. The new law didn’t change the rules according to which the hunting quotas are approved. The ministry intentionally delays the process of opening the hunting season or even intends not to open it.

‘The quotas should be approved as swiftly as possible. The delay points to the ministry’s negative attitude to hunters and to hunting as such,” said the president of the Hunters’ and Fishermen’s Society of Moldova.