On March 26, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Environmentalists have suspended all types of hunting in the Shumilino district structure of the Republican State-Public Association "Belarusian Society of Hunters and Fishermen", as reported to BELTA correspondent by Vasily Kirpichenok, Deputy Head of the Department of the Vitebsk Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. The hunting ban has been imposed due to the absence of a hunting management project and the expiration of the biological and economic justification. The regional inspectorate for the protection of fauna and flora and the district authorities have been notified of the environmentalists' sanctions. Control counts of hunting animal populations conducted this year by the regional production forestry association, commissioned by the Ministry of Forestry, showed a decrease in ungulate populations and an increase in wolf populations in three hunting grounds of the Shumilino district structure of the BOHF. According to Vasily Kirpichenok, the biological and economic justification is nearing expiration in the Orsha and Vitebsk structures of the BOHF. If the necessary documents are not submitted to the regional committee for natural resources and environmental protection, similar measures will be applied to these organizations. According to the results of last year's accounting work, the population of the main types of hunting animals in the Vitebsk region was: elk - 7,908 individuals, deer - 1,138 individuals, wild boar - 17,581 individuals, roe deer - 12,861 individuals. The population of undesirable species was: wolf - 203 individuals, fox - 6,673 individuals, and raccoon dog - 5,297 individuals. Included in the Red Book of the Republic of Belarus: badger - 851 individuals, bear - 107 individuals, and lynx - 330 individuals. The committee assumes that there will be no significant decrease in the wild animal population based on the results of the 2012 accounting work, as this year's winter period was more favorable than the previous one. -0-

BELTA