The Seimas will decide how many heirs will be able to inherit hunting rights Business

With the amendments to the Law on Hunting, the members of the Seimas aim to provide a more liberal procedure – after the death of the owner of the hunting area, they propose to allow all heirs to hunt in the areas that belonged to him, if they meet the requirements for hunters.

The Ministry of the Environment has a different opinion – starting from January 2025, it proposes to apply another option for the succession of the rights of a deceased user of hunting areas: if there were several heirs who are hunters, a hunting permit without a tender would be issued to only one of them according to the written agreement of all the heirs.

Kęstutis Mažeika, a member of the “Vardan Lietuvos” faction of the Democratic faction, who is one of the drafters of the amendments, works in the Rural Affairs Committee, says that the amendments are relevant due to the inheritance of those hunting areas, which were formed on a plot of land owned by a person.

“Those people could have formed a hunting area on their land as farmers or forest land owners, created infrastructure, but if they die or no longer want to hunt, and want to transfer the right to their children or other colleagues, friends who do not have a hunting permit, they cannot do that,” – said K. Mažeika.

The parliamentarian says that he basically agrees with the ministry’s position that hunting rights should be inherited by only one heir, and not more, because, according to him, such an arrangement would prevent the division of private hunting areas. Now such an area cannot be less than 1 thousand. hectares.

“As the hunting area decreases, questions arise regarding the regulation of the animal population,” K. Mažeika explained to BNS.

However, he also believes that the problem of conservation of areas could be solved by prohibiting such divisions by law: “That the unit of the hunting area is indivisible, and the heirs agree and hunt, and if they do not agree, they clarify through the court.”

According to K. Mazeika, now that the manager of the hunting area has died, and no one has taken over the rights to manage the hunting areas, their maintenance falls to the state and it announces tenders for hunting on this plot.

“If it were won by strangers, not relatives, not relatives of the owners of the inherited land or forest, they could prohibit hunting on their land and a conflict between hunters and landowners would begin,” thought K. Mažeika.

The Ministry of the Environment, among other things, proposes to set a deadline in the law for heirs to apply for a hunting permit – according to the ministry, this would be aimed at avoiding a long-lasting situation where, in the absence of a user of hunting grounds, game animals cause damage to land or forestry, but there is no person , responsible for compensation for the damage caused by these animals.

The Ministry proposes to establish that when issuing a permit to hunt in a specific area without a tender (both to the heirs of a deceased user of hunting areas and in other situations), to determine the validity period of such a permit.