Poachers have killed two deers over the past few days, in two different regions of Georgia, according to the Ministry of Environment.
On 7 February, employees of the ministry’s Supervisory Department identified a case in Dusheti, a region in the north of Georgia.
After receiving a tip-off, the department sent a group to investigate the case. After checking on a group of six hunters, they discovered the dismembered body of a deer.
In a video provided to OC Media by the ministry, one of the poachers claims that he was ‘hunting for migratory birds’ and that he shot the deer accidently.
‘It was a valley. I heard a noise and it scared me. I knew that there were wolves and bears there and I fired, and it turned out that I killed a deer. I’ve never killed a deer in my life, this happened for the first time’, the poacher said.
The poachers admitted their guilt, and now the Ministry of Internal Affairs will investigate the casefurther. The ministry claims that value of the loss to nature is ₾5,000 ($1,800).
Another case took place in the village of Chitakhevi, near the resort of Borjomi in southern Georgia.
Forest Rangers heard gunshots, and after searching, discovered a wounded deer.
The ministry believes that the deer was likely shot by two hunters, who managed to hide.
The deer was brought to the vet, but it was not possible to save it.
The supervisory department of the ministry informed OC Media that in 2016, the ministry identified 861 cases of poaching. Criminal investigations were launched in seven cases.
In Azerbaijan, animal rights activists have been protesting the illegal shooting of dogs by municipal authorities, but are doing so in the face of legal challenges and police brutality.
‘We often see blood on the streets,’ says Kamran Mammadli, a 27-year-old vegan activist.
Mammadli has been engaged in animal rights activism since the movement began to gain momentum in Azerbaijan, around four years ago. He tells OC Media that state violence against stray dogs played a driving role in the mo
Animal rights activists staged a protest in front of the Toplan Centre for Stray Dogs in Baku. They have claimed that rather than taking care of the stray dogs the centre kills them.
The 8 July protest was attended by roughly two dozen protesters, who held up signs and chanted ‘don’t kill dogs’. Shortly after the demonstration began, police broke up the protest and detained five participants.
Nijat Ismayilov, one of the detainees, told OC Media that police took the activists to a police sta
Hundreds of seals listed in Russia’s Red Book of endangered species have been washing up dead on the Caspian coast in the Daghestan in what activists warn could amount to an environmental disaster.
On Wednesday, ecologists found the remains of 125 Caspian seals on the shores near the capital, Makhachkala — a record for a single day. Ecologists and scientists studying the Caspian Sea have said that around 17–30 corpses are washing up per day.
Footage of beaches littered with dead animals rel
Police in Baku have broken up a small demonstration by animal rights activists angered by the killing of stray dogs.
Activists reported that six people were detained during the protest on Monday, with police not reporting the reasons for the detentions.
One of the protesters, Sanay Yaghmur, told OC Media that there were around 15 people at the demonstration and that police intervened as soon as it began. She said that one of the organisers, Nijat Ismayilov, was detained in his home by police