According to the head of the country, the use of night sights in hunting is not necessary to achieve the goals specified in the explanatory note to the law, such as the effectiveness of the fight once morest African swine fever or better preparation for the defense of the country.
G. Nausėda made such a decision last week following the parliament decided that night sights might be used for hunting wild boars, foxes, mongooses, common raccoons, Canadian minks, nutria and muskrats.
69 members of the Seimas voted for the corresponding amendment to the Law on Hunting. Most opponents of the decision did not participate in the vote.
In order to reject the president’s veto, 71 members of the Seimas will have to vote for it.
As stated in the announcement issued by the Presidency, G. Nausėda believes that “this law contradicts the main principle of legislation – expediency, which means that the draft of the legal act must be prepared and the legal act adopted only in the event that the goals sought cannot be achieved by other means”.
“In addition, the law passed by the Seimas formulates the permission to use night sights very broadly, not on the basis of an individual, but a general permission. This means that, with the exception of the species of animals permitted to be hunted with night sights specified in the law, it does not provide for any conditions restricting the use of night sights,” the report states.
According to the President, following legalizing night sights in hunting, it would be very difficult to ensure control over the use of such tools in practice, as a result of which administrative and criminal liability for the illegal use of night sights in hunting would actually become inapplicable.
The amendment to the night sights was initiated by Kęstutis Mažeika, a member of the Rural Affairs Committee and a representative of the “Vardan Lietuvos” Democratic Union.
Supporters of the legalization of night sights say that the use of these devices would contribute to more effective enforcement of animal welfare principles – the animal would be shot with a single shot, without suffering injuries. They also claim that having night vision equipment would help in home defense as well.
Environmentalists argue that such a permit allows for poaching because there is no practical way to control that night scopes are used to hunt only those animals targeted by the law.
Linas Jonauskas, a member of the faction of the Social Democratic Party, who opposes the use of night sights, says that when making the decision, the Seimas did not listen to “the warnings of the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of National Defense, or the Special Investigation Service.”
“(…) to ignore even the will of the president would be shameful,” the parliamentarian said in a statement on Friday.
Now, the tools allowed and prohibited for hunting are determined by the Hunting Rules, which are approved by the Minister of the Environment. Until recently, night sights were on the list of prohibited tools.
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2024-07-10 03:18:45
