Report: Illegal hunting by Thai workers threatens wildlife

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http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/11/09/News/News.15208.html

 

Report: Illegal hunting by Thai workers threatens wildlife

By Liat Collins

 

(November 9) - Among the greatest threats to the

country's wildlife is illegal hunting by Thai

workers, according to the second annual Born Free

Report on the state of wild animals in Israel.

 

The report was published yesterday at a press

conference in the Knesset marking the fifth year of

the Born Free project of the Society for the

Protection of Nature in Israel and Tnuva.

 

Tel Aviv University zoologist Prof. Yoram

Yom-Tov, who prepared the chapter on illegal

hunting, estimated that there are at least 43,000

traps set around the country. More than 1,500 traps

have been uncovered by Nature and Parks Authority

wardens in the last two months and 15 Thai

workers have recently been deported for illegal

hunting.

 

NPA director general Aharon Vardi, stressing that

the problem is mainly with workers from certain

regions, said that the import of more Thai workers

to replace Palestinians because of the hostilities

" will certainly have a very serious effect on the

situation of the country's wildlife. " He said that the

NPA has increased enforcement and introduced

sophisticated " weapons " to fight the illegal hunting,

such as modern night-vision equipment.

 

Vardi also noted that the current intifada has also

delayed several educational and information

exchange programs with the Palestinians, such as

Israeli advice on setting up animal petting corners

in towns like Jenin and Kalkiliya.

 

According to the report, Thai traps were the major

cause of death for the wolves on the Golan Heights,

accounting for four out of the 18 fatalities of wolves

fitted with transmitters. Between 1996 and 1999, 22

percent of the wolf fatalities can be attributed to the

illegal traps.

 

Hunting, both legal and illegal, is also one of the

major factors in the drop in the gazelle population.

Other reasons include falling prey to wolves and

jackals, and health or fertility problems which have

resulted in only one fawn surviving for every 10

adult female gazelles on the Golan.

 

NPA Chief Scientist Avi Perevolotsky said the

situation in the Gulf of Eilat " is also bleak. The sea

will be there in another 10 years, but there is a

question mark over the future of the coral reefs and

the wide variety of fish we see there today. " He

said the main threat to the Eilat marine wildlife is

the pressure created by tourism, the intense fish

farming which is polluting the waters, and what he

described as mismanagement by the local council.

 

 

 

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