Bucharest, 16.11.2022 – Agent Green today exposes canned hunting in Brănești recreational forest near the capital. The organisation’s investigators caught Cezar Răduță (former director of the Ilfov Forestry Directorate and deputy director general of Romsilva) taking part with a hunting weapon, although he had been sent for trial by DNA and the police had consequently withdrawn his right to possess and use it.
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“The law says that every citizen should enjoy 300 m² of recreational forest. In Bucharest, instead of the authorities doing something to offer citizens these forests, they surround them with expensive fences to kill wild animals for pleasure, with no escape,” warns Dan-Cătălin Turiga, forestry engineer and Agent Green investigator.
Agent Green investigators closely observed the first hunt organised this month immediately after the installation of Romsilva’s new fence in the Pasărea area of Brănești forest. Their first observation was the armed presence of Mr Cezar Răduță, although he had been sent for trial by DNA in November 2021 for taking bribes and abuse of office. Investigators also observed beaters being paid off the books by the organiser inside the fenced forest. The Agent Green team requested the police’s presence, but they could not cope with the situation: both Mr Cezar Răduță and the beaters fled by different routes, most of them right past the firearms officer and the crew that arrived later as reinforcements.
“The clumsiness of the police officers involved does no credit to the Romanian Police and rather emboldens those who break the law. Fortunately, most of the hunt participants were filmed. We hope there are senior officers at IGPR interested in repairing the disgrace at Brănești, just as we hope the Ministry of the Environment will order the fence dismantled and the forest opened for citizens’ recreation,” said Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green.
