On June 29, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The Chashniki District Prosecutor's Office has extended the inspection period in the case of cruelty to cormorant chicks until July 9, the prosecutor of Chashniki District, Yevgeny Babenkov, told a BELTA correspondent. The police are continuing their verification activities and are awaiting official documents from the district inspectorate of natural resources and environmental protection regarding the number of injured and disposed of birds. According to the prosecutor, in accordance with the legislation, the inspection period can be extended once more – until July 19. According to unofficial information, law enforcement agencies have identified a person involved in harming cormorant chicks on an island in Lake Lukomskoye in mid-June. By decision of the district commission for providing assistance to wild animals in distress, the district inspectorate, together with employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and members of the Belarusian Society of Hunters and Fishermen, captured the injured birds, euthanized them, and disposed of them. Euthanasia was the only way to prevent about three dozen birds with the upper part of their beaks cut off from dying a torturous death by starvation. The case of cruelty to cormorant chicks is under the control of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. The cormorant is included in the list of undesirable wild animal species. This means that hunters are allowed to hunt them. "However, the fact that the cormorant is an undesirable species absolutely does not justify the behavior of those who treated the birds in a monstrous way," the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection believes. According to the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses, cruelty to animals, resulting in their death or injury, as well as torture of animals, entails a fine of 10 to 30 base units or administrative arrest. Two years ago, in the Vitebsk region, a resident of Glubokoye was brought to administrative responsibility for torturing a bird. The man decided to use a live jackdaw as a scarecrow in his garden and tied it by the leg with a rope to a pole he had installed on a tree. The suffering of the bird, which was trying to fly away, did not leave the neighbors indifferent, and they called the environmentalists. An inspector, together with a local police officer, rescued the tortured bird, and an administrative protocol was drawn up against its tormentor. The court found the resident of Glubokoye guilty and, considering his admission of guilt and the fact that the bird remained alive, sentenced him to a minimum fine of Br350 thousand (the base unit in 2010 was Br35 thousand). -0-

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