Hunting tourism – unpleasant dynamics

Hunting as business

The first ‘free’ hunting season for foreigners in Belarus was opened in September 1989 in Telekhany forestry. However prosperity came recently and the most popular brand “Belavezhskaya Pushcha” is very attractive, being one of the best preserved corners of Europe. When a hunter starts being interested in the country, he realizes there are other ‘untouched’ places here. They also cost less than Pushcha. An expert on hunting tourism Mr. Denis Belov says:

“Last year our agency brought about 100 people to Belarus from Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Cyprus, Germany and the USA. We are working with 25 different forest industries, including Narochansky National Park, Telekhany, Pripiat Reserve. People come here to hunt quail, moose, wild boar, roe deer, wolves and anything else of interest.

Q: “What is the cost of a day for a foreign hunter in Belarus?”

“75 Euro on average, including lodging and catering.

There are different prices for hunting in different forestry areas. Moreover, the Ministry of Environment set the minimum price level for all forestry areas and they cannot lower that cost. A duck, for example costs 4 Euro. A moose, depending on its cost as a trophy could be from 300 to 6000 or even 15000 Euro. The population is growing, therefore the experts of the Environment Ministry allow hunting for them in designated areas. The population of roe deer is growing too, also wild boar whose population has reached the level where they start creating problems. Wild boars, when they don’t have enough food, start eating birds’ eggs, little rabbits and even roe deer fawns. In Braslav region alone there were1800 wild boars killed by hunters, according to official figures...

Roe Deer costs a foreigner about 150-1000 Euro, a fawn or a hind could be cheaper, around 60 Euro.

Recently Hungary and Romania reduced the hunting cost for Roe Deer, so it is cheaper there than here now, which makes those places popular among hunters for these species.

A wolf costs around 350-400 Euro. The most interesting hunting for wolves is probably in Chernobyl zone (if it still exists), where the wolves are hunted from a helicopter”.

Q: “So people visit contaminated areas for hunting?”

“Yes, due to the fact that most hunters seek a trophy rather than meat. The cost of hunting in those regions is not much lower, perhaps only by 5-10 % but those territories are not widely advertised. Actually wolf hunting is not very popular. There is an EU Parliament Directive, which prohibits import of wolf skin from Belarus. Unlike neighbouring countries, Belarus doesn’t have a programme on sustainable preservation of this population. Europeans consider wolves as a species under protection, while Belarusians are trying to calculate the number of these species every year, but I haven’t heard them succeeding so far. So, a foreigner can hunt wolf here and even take its skin out of the country, however on their side of the border they will have lots of problems with their customs officials”.

Q: “Are bisons being hunted in Belarus?”

“Yes, for those that are ill or old, a special expert commission identifies them. Bison are the most expensive. The cost reaches 15-20 thousand Euro. I heard in Belavezhskaya Pushcha it reached 40 thousand Euro. However everything is expensive there, given the brand-name… About 20 bisons are shot annually, or even more, in Pushcha and in other areas where there are bisons.

Hunting for The National Symbol

A couple of months ago the Discovery Channel showed a documentary dedicated to the Polish side of the Belavezhskaya Pushcha. One of the researchers and scientists, exploring and protecting this unique ecosystem, said, that the Polish side of Pushcha secured the population of bisons. However these animals migrate and when they appear in Belarus, no-one could guarantee their preservation.

Mr. Valery Dranchuk, publisher of the newspaper “Belavezhskaya Pushcha” in 1995-2002, a Leader of the civic environmental initiative “Terra Convention”, calls this reservation area according to the legislation, a zone ‘out of the control of society’:

“I remember this documentary. The problem is that Belavezhskaya Pushcha is absolutely out of control, there is no control, neither by the government, nor by society, and the latter do not generally know what is happening in Pushcha. It is a relict forest, of a world value, and its fate is in the hands of a few officials from the administration. It is their ‘territory’, though under protection. Therefore I believe that the Pole from the Discovery documentary was right.

Where hunting in Pushcha is concerned, and in particular, bison hunting , a national symbol of the country we all grew up with, I believe it is a blasphemy, or very close to that. I cannot share the ‘enthusiasm’ about the increase in entry tourism of this type, announced in the news”.

 “It could be scientific tourism”

“According to the Chinese Calendar, the current year is the year of Boar. If I had the power I would announce 2009 the Year of Bison and introduce moratorium for hunting for it. I would also proclaim it the Year of Scientific Tourism for Bison. I met with representatives of reserves from Europe and the USA. When you say ‘bison’ to them, their faces light-up given that bison is very interesting for scientists, environmentalists and biologists. Why can’t the government exploit this angle? Seminars and plenary sessions could be organized and dedicated to bison.

For some reason the administration decided to play a game with the residence of ‘Santa Claus’. Actually, the residence was build at a place where the last Belarusian bison was shot. They should have built a Bison Museum there instead!

In general, commercial hunting has to be excluded from the reserves, not least on the ethical grounds. However the officials have no understanding of ethics. The calculator in their brains is functioning efficiently. For them, deep respect for preserved areas, the lifestyle and beauty is something abstract. They understand ‘several hundred Euro for a dead animal’, that is crucial for them”.

There is nothing to be proud of

Both of our interviewers have their own perspectives on commercial hunting as one type of tourism and on hunting in general.

However they agree on the basics, there is nothing to be proud of if the country’s popularity is growing only as a place where one can kill animals. The development of this type of tourism has a negative effect on the image of the country. And the situations, similar to that which happened about two years ago, provoke indignation even among the general population. Two years ago, two foreign-hunters for an unknown reason killed a female bison and a bison calf instead of a deer they were allowed to kill in Pushcha. They were fined with only 27 thousand Euro and were banned from entering the country.

By Natalia Sharai