A parliamentary committee of inquiry into Tanczos Barna
Agent Green and the Coalition for Animal Rights call for a parliamentary committee of inquiry into Tanczos Barna.
The UDMR senator blocked implementation of the National Plan for the Conservation of the Bear Population
Bucharest, 25 September 2023 – Agent Green and Romania’s Coalition for Animal Rights are concerned about the unprecedented persecution of the brown bear species and directly accuse Tanczos Barna of creating this situation in his capacities as senator and former environment minister. In July 2018, the Environment Ministry approved the National Plan for the Conservation of the Bear Population[1] under Grațiela Leocadia Gavrilescu’s leadership. Both Ms Gavrilescu and Costel Alexe, the two predecessor ministers, took significant steps towards implementing the Plan, but Tanczos Barna blocked it completely during his term as minister (December 2020 – June 2023). Human-bear conflict escalated and reached its peak precisely during Barna’s term.
In this context, the Coalition and animal protection associations disapprove of Senator Tanczos Barna’s current initiative in the Romanian Parliament to promote a law that would reintroduce bear trophy hunting[2]. The bill will be debated on Tuesday 26 September in the Committee for Waters, Forests, Fisheries and Hunting Resources, and the meeting is illegal because civil society was not invited, even though the only specialists with doctoral and postdoctoral studies on the “brown bear” come from NGOs. The Coalition considers that the bill must be stopped and that a parliamentary inquiry should instead be launched into the negative effects on bears and people resulting from Tanczos Barna’s activities.
“I assume Tanczos Barna is disappointed that the Romanian Academy did not validate his hunting quota while he was minister, and now that he is only a parliamentarian, he is driven to pass a law that bypasses the scientific community in case he cannot corrupt or intimidate it. His bill shows not only desperation but also his main objective in central politics: his obsession with opening bear trophy hunting. I also assume that not all parliamentarians are hunters and that at least 50 from two parliamentary groups will be found to investigate Barna’s activities, which I consider criminal. If Parliament does not react, we will sue the ministry for failing to implement the Plan and report Barna to the DNA, because all the blood shed by bears, people and farm animals is on his hands,” announced Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green and representative of the Coalition for Animal Rights.
The National Plan, which provides for coexistence measures, also includes the “Coexistence” Programme, which was to be funded through the Environmental Fund Administration (AFM) and provides direct support for farmers to obtain protection against bears. Here are just some of the ministry’s commitments published in Official Gazette 549 bis of 2 July 2018:
- a) providing reliable data as scientific support for decision-making,
- b) maintaining a stable bear population,
- c) protecting specific natural habitats and their quality,
- d) maintaining natural behaviour and avoiding habituation/conditioning of individual bears,
- e) preventing and reducing conflicts,
- f) ensuring ecological connectivity within the species’ distribution range nationally and regionally,
- g) informing local people and raising their awareness,
- h) involving stakeholders in decision-making,
- i) improving legislation and ensuring the implementation of and compliance with legal provisions,
- j) integrating bear population conservation measures into other sectors of activity,
- k) increasing institutional capacity and cooperation among the responsible authorities/institutions.
All these obligations lie with the Environment Ministry, which must ensure the legislative framework is supplemented/amended and provide the instruments needed to implement the national action plan.
The only action unblocked by Barna is the installation of 1000 electric fences, after he appointed hunter József-Tamás Fodor as his personal adviser. Fodor shared with his wife a hunting company that also makes electric fences and animal traps [3].
“I sensed Tanczos Barna’s objective, which is why we investigated and published the case of Arthur the bear, killed by a prince from Liechtenstein even though trophy hunting was illegal. That case showed Barna’s true face, and everything that followed shows that he had a well-prepared plan. Not only did he block the Plan that he was obliged to implement, but he became the number 1 instigator of persecution of the brown bear, and the situation turned into general hysteria, exposing the public’s lack of education and the authorities’ lack of preparedness. People between the Carpathians, the Danube and the Black Sea have coexisted with bears for millennia, but it was only during Barna’s term that the situation spiralled completely out of control,” Păun added.
Last week, the preliminary results of the bear census based on genetic samples were made public, proving that thousands of bears in Romania lack suitable habitat[4]. The study shows that, despite nationwide efforts, evidence was found for the existence of only 3000 bears, far fewer than previously thought.
“The study says nothing about the species’ age and sex structure, only a preliminary population size that concerns us. The most likely interpretation of the preliminary results is that, alongside habitat destruction and climate change, human persecution is the greatest threat to bears. They are by no means numerous, but rather severely hounded and desperate,” Păun concluded.
Agent Green and the Coalition for Animal Rights call on:
1. The Romanian Parliament to launch a committee of inquiry into Tanczos Barna’s activities.
2. The Environment Ministry to urgently update and implement the National Plan for the Conservation of the Bear Population and repeal Order No. 2183/2023 approving the intervention and prevention levels for the brown bear species, in order to save this species.
Press contacts:
Gabriel PĂUN, president of Agent Green, gabriel.paun@agentgreen.org
Cătălina RĂDULESCU, Agent Green lawyer, catalina@agentgreen.org, 0740161116
List of Coalition for Animal Rights member organisations signing this press release:
- Asociația A doua șansă Râmnicu Vâlcea
- Asociația Ajutați-l pe Lăbuș Galați
- Asociația Animal Shields Oradea
- Animals International
- Asociația Arca lui Norocel Câmpina
- Asociația Arca lui Noe Cluj
- Asociația Be Human Vatra Dornei
- Asociația CARE4ALL
- Asociația Casa lui Patrocle Suceava
- Asociația Cezar
- Asociatia Codite Fericite Adjud
- Asociația Cuțu Cuțu București
- Asociația Fiona și Prietenii Adjud
- Asociația Free Life Satu Mare
- Asociația Green Cats
- Asociația Hapluț și prietenii Buzău
- Asociația Happy Tails Timișoara
- Asociația Kola Kariola
- Asociația Nas rece inima caldă
- Asociația Negrilica
- Asociația Nuca Animal Welfare, Cluj-Napoca
- Asociația Pas în doi Onești
- Asociația Phoenix APHC
- Asociația Polaris, Târgu Neamț
- Asociația Proanima Suceava
- Asociația Save & Smile, Mureş
- Asociația Save Our Paws
- Asociația Seelen fur Seelchen Bârlad
- Asociația Sf Mucenic Trifon, Ocrotitorul Animalelor
- Asociația Suflete Dragi, București
- Asociația Suntem Vocea Lor, Sighetul Marmației
- Asociația Și ei au dreptul la viață Falticeni
- Asociația Trei Frați Pătați Turda
- Asociația The Voice For The Voiceless – Vocea Necuvântătoarelor
- Asociația Toto și Pufi
- Asociația Youth for Neamț
- Federația pentru Protecția Animalelor și Mediului – România
[1] National Plan for the Conservation of the Bear Population:
https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocumentAfis/203513
[2] UDMR senator seeks to reintroduce hunting based on quotas:
https://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-politic-26552388-tanczos-barna-depune-parlament-proiect-privind-controlul-populatiei-ursi-senatorul-udmr-vrea-reintroducerea-vanatorii-baza-unor-cote.htm
[3] Anomalies at the Environment Ministry: József-Tamás Fodor, Tanczos Barna’s adviser, owns a company specialising in hunting: https://investigatoria.ro/2022/01/28/anomaliile-de-la-ministerul-mediului-jozsef-tamas-fodor-consilierul-lui-tanczos-barna-detine-o-firma-specializata-in-vanatoare/
[4] Preliminary results of the bear census based on genetic samples, proving that thousands of bears in Romania lack suitable habitat: https://flux24.ro/rezultatele-preliminare-ale-recensamantului-ursilor-bazat-pe-probe-genetice-dovedesc-ca-mii-de-ursi-din-romania-nu-au-un-habitat-adecvat/
