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The Portuguese Hunting Federation (FENCAÇA) condemns the slaughter of 540 animals in Quinta da Torre Bela, in the municipality of Azambuja, and adds that the hunting will have been carried out to build a photovoltaic plant there.
According to FENCAÇA, there is a “mega photovoltaic plant” project with more than 750 hectares (ha) for this location, in the Lisbon district, which is in the process of public consultation.
“We learned through social networks and the media that this weekend the hunts would have taken place in Herdade da Torre Bela, in the municipality of Azambuja, where around 540 large game specimens were sacrificed, in which presented as an ‘extermination’ ‘, supposedly to make way for a photovoltaic plant, “the entity said in a statement.
Alerting to the controversy surrounding the project, FENCAÇA said that the contract would also require the killing of a large number of cork oaks, a forest species that has protected status, and requested the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) to investigate this hunt.
Therefore, it is important that the ICNF urgently investigate the circumstances in which this massacre occurred in Herdade da Torre Bela and whether it was a population management action, duly programmed and in accordance with the law, necessarily with character sustainable; or if, at least, On the contrary, there was a massive slaughter of animals with a view to their ‘extermination’, annihilating the hunting heritage there. […]”, indicated the federation.
According to FENCAÇA, the principles of hunting have been violated, as well as the general principles of the Law of General Hunting Bases.
“Although Herdade da Torre Bela is a walled property, there could never be an ‘extermination’ of large hunting populations (according to various media reports), except in the case of an imperative health emergency measure. , that is, contain an outbreak, which would have to be previously decreed by the ICNF in conjunction with the DGAV [Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária], which will not have been the case, “he accused.
Regarding the images published on social networks, FENCAÇA considered that they indicate that “some legal provisions and procedures may have been violated, given that a deficient use of stamps to mark sacrificed specimens.”
According to the organization, the seals must be purchased before the hunt.
“The FENCAÇA requests the ICNF to thoroughly investigate the situation that occurred last weekend, in order to find out if there was a violation of current legislation and, if it is confirmed that it occurred, punish those responsible accordingly,” he said.
The Portuguese Hunting Federation also regrets the reaction of the event organizers on social networks, who will have boasted of the “mass killing, contrary to all ethical principles that should support the noble act of hunting.”
However, the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) has already announced that it will suspend the license for the Torre Bela Hunting Area, with immediate effect, and that it has submitted a crime report against the preservation of fauna to the Ministry Public.
“The ICNF will proceed with the immediate suspension of the license for the Torre Bela Hunting Tourist Area (No. 2491-ICNF), after the slaughter of 540 animals in that fenced farm. The investigations carried out by the ICNF made it possible to gather conclusive evidence of non-compliance by the concessionaire of the hunting area, that is, those related to the promotion and sustainable management of fauna, among other non-compliance ”, reads a statement released by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action.
The guardianship mentions that, together with the ICNF, “there will be an immediate participation with the Public Ministry on the events of Herdade da Torre Bela”, in the district of Lisbon.
The online newspaper O Fundamental reported on Sunday that 540 animals, mostly deer and wild boar, were slaughtered in a bush in recent days.
The massacre, according to the newspaper, will be “announced” on social networks “by some of the 16 ‘hunters’ who will have participated” in the initiative.
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