Hunters, conservationists and animal rights activists have started a joint referendum for a nationwide legal regulation of hunting. They want to see hunting “transformed from a hobby that is too often cruel to animals, destroys nature and is selfish to a part of our society that is based on ecological understanding and respect for animals,” as it was said at a press conference in Vienna today.
The hunt must serve the interests of society as a whole and be ecological and animal welfare friendly. “Hunting in Austria, which is regulated differently in nine provincial laws, does not do justice to this. The state laws allow E.g.: cruelty to animals, hunting of rare species, shooting of parent animals with young or killing of dogs and cats”, according to the initiators.
Multiple organizations
The request is supported by the organizations Animal Welfare Austria, Ecological Hunting Association, Association against Animal Factories and AG Wild Animals in the Science and Environment Forum.
“The forest shows whether the hunt is right. About two-thirds of the Austrian forest suffer from high densities of hoofed game and cannot regenerate sufficiently. Trophy cult, wild feeding and excessive bureaucracy with nine state hunting laws have been destroying Austria’s forests for decades and preventing the natural emergence of a climate-friendly mixed forest. Wild should be allowed to remain wild and not be treated as farm animals,” says Franz Puchegger, chairman of the Austrian Ecological Hunting Association.
