Arthur’s killing in the Oituz-Ojdula Natura 2000 protected area was illegal amid EC infringement proceedings
Agent Green press release
The killing of Arthur the bear, who lived in the Natura 2000 protected natural area Oituz-Ojdula, was illegal amid ongoing EC infringement proceedings. The Environment Ministry continues to support trophy hunting and is responsible for the growing conflict between humans and bears
10 May 2021 – Agent Green draws attention to the fact that killing wild animals and logging in the Natura 2000 protected area Oituz-Ojdula ROSCI0130 are illegal activities, since this site had no approved management plan when Arthur the bear was shot by Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein. The organisation recalls that the Environment Ministry faces infringement proceedings at the European Commission over abusive logging in Natura 2000 protected areas and because it “has so far failed to designate special areas of conservation and has not established, in a general and systematic manner, detailed, site-specific conservation objectives and measures”
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/RO/inf_20_1212
“Hunting, like logging or any other activities unrelated to the management of the Natura 2000 site, may take place only if they comply with the Habitats Directive, meaning that they undergo an appropriate assessment procedure and, where applicable, a strategic environmental assessment or environmental impact assessment procedure as well. In this case, the Natura 2000 site Oituz Ojdula has no conservation objectives for the protected area or the bear species, as it has no management plan. Therefore, shooting bears and logging that reduces bear habitat are activities that breach European legislation under these conditions,” warns Cătălina Rădulescu, Agent Green’s lawyer.
The bear living in the Natura 2000 site Oituz-Ojdula was shot at Ojdula on 13 March 2021. Yet the Environment Ministry only published the draft management plan for this protected area for public consultation on 19 March 2021:
In July 2020, the European Commission asked Romania to fully transpose Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora into national legislation. This directive helps protect biodiversity in the European Union. Incorrect transposition and application of its provisions can compromise its conservation objectives. Under this directive, Romania was required to propose EU sites of Community importance (SCIs), which would then be added to the EU biogeographical lists within six years of listing (that is, in 2013), and to establish conservation objectives and measures to maintain or restore protected species and habitats to a favourable conservation status, designating those SCIs as special areas of conservation (SACs). These requirements are essential for protecting biodiversity throughout the EU. Romania has so far failed to designate special areas of conservation and has not established, in a general and systematic manner, detailed, site-specific conservation objectives and measures.
/infringement-ultimatum (in Romanian)
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_20_1212
https://ec.europa.eu/romania/news/20201030_infringements_mediu_ro
Among other issues, Romanian legislation does not explicitly state that the conservation measures included in management plans must take account of the ecological needs of the natural habitat types and species present within the sites concerned. This directly affects the quality of management plans, since they may not contain the measures needed to protect those habitat types and species. National legislation also limits the scope of the directive’s main provisions to activities carried out within Natura 2000 sites. This excludes all other possible causes of deterioration or disturbance originating outside the sites: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/RO/inf_20_1687
Regarding trophy hunting, the Environment Ministry has still taken no concrete action to end this barbaric phenomenon. “For now, the minister assures us that problem bears will be shot only by hunters from associations in Romania. This will continue to play into trophy hunters’ hands, because the measure does not prevent killing by shooting or stop a foreign or domestic hunter from becoming a member of an association,” Rădulescu concluded.
Agent Green asks the Environment Ministry to outlaw trophy hunting by banning the shooting of strictly protected animals and allowing lethal action only by a veterinarian through tranquillisation followed by euthanasia. An environmental commissioner and a gendarme must also be present. To put an end to trophy hunting, all strictly protected wild animals subjected to lethal action must be cremated after DNA samples have been taken. More than 74,000 people have signed the petition supporting these legislative changes in the last 6 days: https://campaniamea.declic.ro/petitions/stop-vanatorii-de-trofee
Agent Green also accuses the Environment Ministry of being responsible for worsening human-bear conflict because it has never addressed the causes of this situation, only its effects, mainly through shooting. The main causes of human-bear conflict are not the large number of bears, as the minister and the hunting industry claim, but habitat degradation, climate change and human persecution taken to extremes by agitators from this barbaric industry. The ministry continues to block funds due to householders who have suffered damage, as well as funds for installing electric fences. Although protected areas cover 23% of Romania on paper, only about 1% of the country is actually strictly protected, mainly in alpine areas above the treeline.
Agent Green announces that it will lodge a new complaint with the European Commission over the poor management of bear, wolf and lynx populations unless the Environment Ministry takes the following measures by 31 May:
- Release the funds for electric fences and compensation due to householders who were implementing protective measures but nevertheless suffered damage
- Launch a national educational programme for human-bear coexistence and coadaptation
- Launch a bear population census using scientific methods that include DNA samples
- Ensure that all Natura 2000 areas have approved management plans
- Ban logging in national parks (1.3% of the country’s area): /parcuri-nationale (in Romanian)
- Strictly protect the last primary and old-growth forests (2.5% of the country’s area), starting from the PRIMOFARO forest inventory
An electric fence installed by Agent Green in Covasna County – video for free distribution, crediting “Agent Green” as the source.
Press contact:
Cătălina Rădulescu, Agent Green lawyer, office@agentgreen.org, 0745138165
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