To reduce ASF, wild boars will be allowed to be hunted throughout the country

With the aim of more successfully combating the spread of African swine fever (ASF), amendments to the Hunting Law developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and adopted by the Saeima have entered into force to ensure an even hunting load in all hunting areas and promote more intensive wild boar hunting.

Amendments to the Hunting Law provide for the obligation to hunt wild boars in previously registered hunting districts, starting with an area of 200 ha, and also give the State Forest Service (SFS) the right to decide on the jurisdiction of hunting rights in areas where wild boar hunting was not permitted until now – in specially protected nature territories, hunting areas where hunting rights are used by the landowner himself and which are not registered as part of a hunting district, etc.

In order to prevent the fragmentation of hunting areas, the amendments to the law include a condition - in a hunting area with an area of 200 to 1,000 ha, if it was registered after the date of entry into force of these amendments and was formed as a result of the division of a previously registered area, the responsible hunting rights user will be determined by the Ministry of Forestry and Forestry.

These amendments to the Hunting Law are in force until the wild boar population density is reduced to one wild boar per 200 ha, but no longer than until March 31, 2020.

Until the adoption of these amendments, wild boar hunting could take place in 76 % national territories, but the remaining 24 % consisted of the following areas:
– where a hunting area of the relevant area has not been registered – the owner of the hunting rights has not transferred them to the user of the hunting rights or the hunting rights have been transferred, but the hunting area is smaller than the minimum area for wild boar hunting specified in Section 19, Part 1 of the Hunting Law (<1000 ha);
– where it was prohibited by other regulatory acts (nature reserves, military facilities, etc.).

Areas where wild boar hunting was previously not allowed served as a refuge for wild boars, reducing hunting success in adjacent hunting areas and increasing the risks of further spread of ASF.
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Information prepared by: Dagnija Muceniece,
Head of Press and Public Relations Department
phone: 67027070; mobile: 26534104;
e-mail: Dagnija.Muceniece@zm.gov.lv.