2023-08-01 05:05:30
From today, August 1st, Lower Austria’s hunters have the license to shoot or trap an unlimited number of jays and then kill them
Vienna (OTS) – Starting tomorrow, August 1st, Lower Austria’s hunters have the license to shoot unlimited numbers of jays or to catch them in traps and then kill them – and that, although jays are not huntable game, belong to the protected songbird species, are our allies for climate-friendly forests , there is no reasonable reason for killing them and the killing ordinances of the Lower Austrian districts are illegal on several occasions. The proponents of the referendum for a federal hunting law demand that the killing ordinances be lifted immediately and lodge a complaint with the state administrative court.
Oaks and jays live in symbiosis, an ecological interaction in which both partners benefit from each other. The oak is dependent on the jay for the dispersal of its heavy seeds, and each jay can tolerate between 2,000 and 5,000 acorns in the fall on well-suited germination sites. “We humans also benefit from this symbiosis, because the oak will play an increasingly important role in our forests with increasing heat and drought. Some forest operations specifically rely on cooperation with jays when planting the oaks,” explains wildlife biologist Karoline Schmidt from the Wildlife Working Group in the Science and Environment Forum.
Like all songbird species, jays are protected by the EU Birds Directive and may not be intentionally killed. They are therefore also not huntable. However, the Lower Austrian district administration authorities have issued ordinances for the “exemption from the protective regulations”, with which they allow the hunting of jays from August 1, 2023 to March 15, 2024 both by shooting and by trapping without spatial or numerical restrictions. This is justified with alleged damage to agriculture and fauna, for which there is no evidence and which is not to be expected due to the way of life of the jay.
These regulations are illegal in several respects:
- According to the Hunting Act, the district administration authorities can only issue exceptions to the conservation regulations for huntable species, not for non-huntable species such as the jay.
- According to EU law, there is no examination of alternatives and no limitation of killings to what is absolutely necessary to avert the alleged damage.
- The traps used with decoys also contradict the Federal Animal Welfare Act, as the Upper Austrian provincial administrative court found in March.
“It’s incredible how the bras think they can override every right here. The immediate repeal of these ordinances is not only necessary for animal welfare reasons, but also from the point of view of the rule of law,” emphasizes Madeleine Petrovic, President of Tierschutz Austria. Tierschutz Austria therefore lodged a complaint with the regional administrative court last week.
“Jays are a protected, non-huntable species and it goes without saying that we respect that. There’s no need to hunt jays. They are the allies of the forest farmer,” says DI Franz Puchegger, chairman of the Austrian Ecological Hunting Association.
“In the federal states, a wild west mentality is spreading when it comes to dealing with animal species that are actually protected. This is one of many reasons why hunting rights should be transferred to the federal level. A progressive federal hunting law will clear up this and numerous other animal and species protection abuses in Austria,” affirms Martin Balluch, chairman of the association once morest animal factories.
The referendum “For a federal hunting law” has formulated 14 principles, which in one federal hunting law should be implemented. The initiative, made up of AG Wild Animals, the ecological hunting association, animal protection Austria and the association once morest animal factories, is currently campaigning for declarations of support for the referendum, which all persons entitled to vote in Austria can make at any district or municipal office and around the clock online using a mobile phone signature.
Questions & contact:
Animal Welfare Austria
communication@tierschutz-austria.at
www.tierschutz-austria.at
1690867076
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