Poland to be first EU country to ban most hunting

[Royal27]

@Witold Krzyżanowski ,

What can you tell us about this?

https://www.fieldsportschannel.tv/poland-to-be-first-eu-country-to-ban-most-hunting/

Poland to be first EU country to ban most hunting

The Polish Senate has crumbled under pressure from animal rights activists and has voted for the following laws:

• No under-18s to go hunting or join hunting trips (Poland has a constitutional right that allows parents to raise children in the way/faith/environment they deem best)
• All dogwork and falconry training to be banned (UNESCO recognise falconry as a ‘living human heritage’) – but untrained dogs and falcons to be allowed to work
• No further fines for animal rights thugs sabotaging hunting
• Gun owners to undergo regular medical tests
• Land-owners to be allowed to exclude their properties from available for hunting (Poland previously allowed public hunting over private land)
• No shooting to take place within 150 metres of housing (previously it was 100 metres)
• Hunting clubs managers and members to be liable for wildlife damage within their area

Two protests in front of the parliament bulding in Warsaw (poster, pictured), have not moved the Polish government.

Viewer Rafal Konstanty says: “The last chance and hope to change anything will be with President rejecting this act when presented on 23 March – however it seems slim I guess. I wish I was wrong and will be able to send some good news.”

What will the president do? In his political career so far, Andrzej Duda has avoided being labelled pro animal rights or pro hunting, though he openly criticised former president of Poland Bronisław Komorowski for going hunting. Duda wrote in 2015: “It is difficult for me to understand my competitor to the office of the President of the Republic, Mr Bronisław Komorowski, who made a hobby of and took pleasure in killing animals. His pictures are a sad sight for me, over the carcases of animals (he) killed”. Duda voted against halal slaughter in parliament. In January 2018, he agreed a law designed to combat the spread of African swine flu, which gave hunters increased rights.

A publicity photo of Polish president Andrzej Duda appealing to animal lovers and hunters alike

The Polish parliament voting on the new laws

 

[Moosemind]

@Witold Krzyżanowski ,

What can you tell us about this?

https://www.fieldsportschannel.tv/poland-to-be-first-eu-country-to-ban-most-hunting/

Poland to be first EU country to ban most hunting

The Polish Senate has crumbled under pressure from animal rights activists and has voted for the following laws:

• No under-18s to go hunting or join hunting trips (Poland has a constitutional right that allows parents to raise children in the way/faith/environment they deem best)
• All dogwork and falconry training to be banned (UNESCO recognise falconry as a ‘living human heritage’) – but untrained dogs and falcons to be allowed to work
• No further fines for animal rights thugs sabotaging hunting
• Gun owners to undergo regular medical tests
• Land-owners to be allowed to exclude their properties from available for hunting (Poland previously allowed public hunting over private land)
• No shooting to take place within 150 metres of housing (previously it was 100 metres)
• Hunting clubs managers and members to be liable for wildlife damage within their area

Two protests in front of the parliament bulding in Warsaw (poster, pictured), have not moved the Polish government.

Viewer Rafal Konstanty says: “The last chance and hope to change anything will be with President rejecting this act when presented on 23 March – however it seems slim I guess. I wish I was wrong and will be able to send some good news.”

What will the president do? In his political career so far, Andrzej Duda has avoided being labelled pro animal rights or pro hunting, though he openly criticised former president of Poland Bronisław Komorowski for going hunting. Duda wrote in 2015: “It is difficult for me to understand my competitor to the office of the President of the Republic, Mr Bronisław Komorowski, who made a hobby of and took pleasure in killing animals. His pictures are a sad sight for me, over the carcases of animals (he) killed”. Duda voted against halal slaughter in parliament. In January 2018, he agreed a law designed to combat the spread of African swine flu, which gave hunters increased rights.

A publicity photo of Polish president Andrzej Duda appealing to animal lovers and hunters alike

The Polish parliament voting on the new laws

Which one is the weasel?

 

[Royal27]

Which one is the weasel?

Easy.

The one with the narrow set beady eyes, and holding the ferret.

 

[Pheroze]

I could not imagine the frustration I would feel not being able to take my boys afield. Unbelievable bit of stupidity. I don't know how conservation works in Poland, but in Ontario fees from hunting and fishing put more than $71M into conservation a year. If there is a similar system I wonder what will replace those dollars? Phototourism?

 

[Divernhunter]

And now you know why it was so easy for the Germans then the Russians to take over the country.
Stupid is and stupid does. Flipping tree-huggers!!

 

[CEO]

Poland was one of the options I was looking at for roebuck and boar. Romania may be the ticket now.

 

[Deleted member 40394]

we Need to all get our kids into hunting at a young age. Now!

 

[Opposite Pole]

I’ll post a more thorough response later today or tomorrow but there’s no need to panick. Some of the proposed changes are stupid to say the least but there are no official attempts to ban hunting. It’s an evolution (for the worse to be sure) but not a revolution of the hunting system in Poland. Come and hunt your Roe CEO!

 

[johnnyblues]

I’ll post a more thorough response later today or tomorrow but there’s no need to panick. Some of the proposed changes are stupid to say the least but there are no official attempts to ban hunting. It’s an evolution (for the worse to be sure) but not a revolution of the hunting system in Poland. Come and hunt your Roe CEO!

Good luck!

 

[Pheroze]

I’ll post a more thorough response later today or tomorrow but there’s no need to panick. Some of the proposed changes are stupid to say the least but there are no official attempts to ban hunting. It’s an evolution (for the worse to be sure) but not a revolution of the hunting system in Poland. Come and hunt your Roe CEO!

I look forward to hearing from you. Poland has such a beautiful hunting culture that this law is like watching the Taliban blow up the Budda carvings in Afghanistan.

 

[Opposite Pole]

First of all, there is no hunting ban being discussed or proposed as a law. There are however some negative and dumb changes proposed to the current legislations.

In order to clarify it I must start with a quick breakdown of hunting law in Poland. All wild animals are considered state property. The country is divided into hunting lease areas of no less than 3000ha each. These comprise of state owned forests, wildland, water bodies as well as privately owned farmland but exclude national parks. There is no hunting allowed in national parks in Poland though there are population reduction shootings organised there but this is governed by regulations other than hunting law. There is a slight change in the wording proposed regarding national parks law the might sound like a ban but it is nothing new and does not change anything.

Hunting in Poland is heavy regulated by various national laws as well as by Polish Hunting Organization (Polski Związek Łowiecki or PZŁ). First hunting legislations appeared around 10th century and first laws aiming at protecting game from overhunting date back to 15th century. All polish hunters must complete training and pass exams set up by PZŁ and become its members. Falling under the main body of PZŁ are local hunting clubs (Koło Łowieckie). Koło Łowieckie is the actual leaseholder of the land for purposes of game management and is a not for profit type of organisation. Hunting is done on both state and privately held land under the leaseholder’s management. If you own a farm and there are wild animals on it you are not allowed to hunt them unless you are a hunter (passed exams, joined PZŁ) and are permitted to do so by the leaseholder. However, hunters can and do hunt on privately held farms without seeking owners permission (in the fields obviously not in someone’s barn). The club’s game keeper issues each hunter a quota “odstrzał” for particular number of animals of certain species and sex. All game animals in Poland are wild, there is no such thing as high fence hunting, animals move freely between forests, fields and farms. It is illegal to restrict wild animals’ movement except fencing off your own property for the purpose of keeping them off it. When game damages crops or forestry resources it is the leaseholder’s responsibility to pay compensation for the damages. The funding comes from sales of meat to commercial distributors, as well as to the hunters themselves and also from organising commercial hunts for visitors. So when a local hunter such as myself shoots an animal the carcass belongs to the Koło Łowieckie (the leaseholder). The hunter than decides if he wishes to keep it or bring it to the meat distributor. If he delivers it to the distributor the purchaser pays the club, if he keeps it, the hunter himself pays the club.

Now onto the proposed changes.

Poland has a high population density which is also fairly evenly spread, particularly in central Poland. As such shooting close to towns and villages is the norm and there is a minimum distance of 100m from the nearest building. The proposed changes are to increase the distance to 150m though the antis were pushing for 500m which would drastically reduce the area where hunting is possible.

Second proposed change is to make it illegal for minors to participate in hunting. It is ridiculous, no other words can describe it. Hopefully it won’t go through, there are some constitutional issues with that as anyone is guaranteed the right to bring up their children according to their believes.

Third proposed change is to allow land owners to have the ability of excluding their property from the hunting lease. This is already possible but would be simplified. However, if excluded from hunting leases any damage to the crops would no longer be covered by the hunting club and the land owner is not allowed to harass or kill game in any way – this would qualify as poaching. So in practise such exclusions will be few and far apart as any land owner realises that if wildlife cannot be disturbed in a particular area they will quickly learn to stay just there. The exclusions that will happen will mostly be some greenies who bought rural land but do not live of it. This is very unlikely to be of any actual significance on the large scale of things but may affect some clubs to some extent.

Fourth big proposed change is for the government to have some say in Polish Hunting Organisation’s management. At the moment there is no political control over it and it burns politicians cause they love to stick their sticky hands anywhere they can – apparently they can never get enough opportunities to f..k things up.

That’s that, no hunting ban of any sort.

Disclosure: I do not organise or profit from organising hunting in any way, am not an outfitter or anything of the sort. I am just a regular hunter.

 

[Royal27]

@Opposite Pole ,

Thanks for the detail and clarification.

 

[Moosemind]

Sounds like a feast or famine wildlife management plan.

 

[BRICKBURN]

.................. At the moment there is no political control over it and it burns politicians cause they love to stick their sticky hands anywhere they can – apparently they can never get enough opportunities to f..k things up. ...............

Enough said.

It would be that distance restriction gradually increasing that will create a defacto ban.
Good luck

Thanks for the hunting lesson.

 

[Bullthrower338]

apparently they can never get enough opportunities to f..k things up.

Sounds quite familiar!

 

[Nyati]

Nothing new, every year, in all European countries, greenies try to pass legislation to limit or ban hunting.

 

[MarkCZ]

Opposite Pole, thank you for your very informed post. I have hunted in Poland twice and have had a wonderful time. I have often wondered what your game laws are.
Markcz

 

[Opposite Pole]

Enough said.

It would be that distance restriction gradually increasing that will create a defacto ban.
Good luck

Thanks for the hunting lesson.

Not necessarily, the status of PZŁ is hard to understand as it is a body governing country’s natural resource, making laws, appointing game rangers with breeches of it’s internal laws being subject to sentencing by the country’s courts of law yet it is not a government body. In the past there was a degree of political control over it, so the idea is not new. However I strongly distrust politicians owing to their ability to screw things up and as such hope it won’t go through.

 

[Opposite Pole]

Sounds like a feast or famine wildlife management plan.

Not sure what you mean. The system works quite well. Game populations are healthy and sustainable despite dense human population. It is governed by hundreds of years of tradition as well as tight laws. Shooting quotas are established through short term (1 year) and long term (5 years) game management plans established by various stakeholders (not general public).

Current state of wildlife is a testament to efficiency of the system. The fact that wildlife populations were rebuilt following WWI and WWII is a great success. After the wars they were decimated. Several hungry foreign armies, numerous rebel groups from what was left of the Polish Army along with civilians all hungry at times or suffering famine at others would eat any animal they could obtain, as a result wildlife suffered. It is through efficient management that it is now at healthy, sustainable level.

 

[IdaRam]

First of all, there is no hunting ban being discussed or proposed as a law. There are however some negative and dumb changes proposed to the current legislations.

In order to clarify it I must start with a quick breakdown of hunting law in Poland. All wild animals are considered state property. The country is divided into hunting lease areas of no less than 3000ha each. These comprise of state owned forests, wildland, water bodies as well as privately owned farmland but exclude national parks. There is no hunting allowed in national parks in Poland though there are population reduction shootings organised there but this is governed by regulations other than hunting law. There is a slight change in the wording proposed regarding national parks law the might sound like a ban but it is nothing new and does not change anything.

Hunting in Poland is heavy regulated by various national laws as well as by Polish Hunting Organization (Polski Związek Łowiecki or PZŁ). First hunting legislations appeared around 10th century and first laws aiming at protecting game from overhunting date back to 15th century. All polish hunters must complete training and pass exams set up by PZŁ and become its members. Falling under the main body of PZŁ are local hunting clubs (Koło Łowieckie). Koło Łowieckie is the actual leaseholder of the land for purposes of game management and is a not for profit type of organisation. Hunting is done on both state and privately held land under the leaseholder’s management. If you own a farm and there are wild animals on it you are not allowed to hunt them unless you are a hunter (passed exams, joined PZŁ) and are permitted to do so by the leaseholder. However, hunters can and do hunt on privately held farms without seeking owners permission (in the fields obviously not in someone’s barn). The club’s game keeper issues each hunter a quota “odstrzał” for particular number of animals of certain species and sex. All game animals in Poland are wild, there is no such thing as high fence hunting, animals move freely between forests, fields and farms. It is illegal to restrict wild animals’ movement except fencing off your own property for the purpose of keeping them off it. When game damages crops or forestry resources it is the leaseholder’s responsibility to pay compensation for the damages. The funding comes from sales of meat to commercial distributors, as well as to the hunters themselves and also from organising commercial hunts for visitors. So when a local hunter such as myself shoots an animal the carcass belongs to the Koło Łowieckie (the leaseholder). The hunter than decides if he wishes to keep it or bring it to the meat distributor. If he delivers it to the distributor the purchaser pays the club, if he keeps it, the hunter himself pays the club.

Now onto the proposed changes.

Poland has a high population density which is also fairly evenly spread, particularly in central Poland. As such shooting close to towns and villages is the norm and there is a minimum distance of 100m from the nearest building. The proposed changes are to increase the distance to 150m though the antis were pushing for 500m which would drastically reduce the area where hunting is possible.

Second proposed change is to make it illegal for minors to participate in hunting. It is ridiculous, no other words can describe it. Hopefully it won’t go through, there are some constitutional issues with that as anyone is guaranteed the right to bring up their children according to their believes.

Third proposed change is to allow land owners to have the ability of excluding their property from the hunting lease. This is already possible but would be simplified. However, if excluded from hunting leases any damage to the crops would no longer be covered by the hunting club and the land owner is not allowed to harass or kill game in any way – this would qualify as poaching. So in practise such exclusions will be few and far apart as any land owner realises that if wildlife cannot be disturbed in a particular area they will quickly learn to stay just there. The exclusions that will happen will mostly be some greenies who bought rural land but do not live of it. This is very unlikely to be of any actual significance on the large scale of things but may affect some clubs to some extent.

Fourth big proposed change is for the government to have some say in Polish Hunting Organisation’s management. At the moment there is no political control over it and it burns politicians cause they love to stick their sticky hands anywhere they can – apparently they can never get enough opportunities to f..k things up.

That’s that, no hunting ban of any sort.

Disclosure: I do not organise or profit from organising hunting in any way, am not an outfitter or anything of the sort. I am just a regular hunter.

Very informative amd educational post. Thank you! I enjoyed reading it.