The Cabildo of Lanzarote has held this Friday an urgent meeting of the Island Hunting Council, convened as a result of the temporary closure of hunting activity after the indiscriminate placement of poisons in different enclaves of the municipality of Haría, which has caused in recent weeks the deaths of wild and domestic animals.
The extraordinary session, chaired by the Councilor for Hunting of the Institution, Samuel Martín, had a wide representation of the sectors involved: hunters' association, state security forces, Government of the Canary Islands, the island director of the State, Pedro Viera, technicians and environmental agents of the Cabildo, as well as representatives of the City Council of Haría and the Ecologists in Action Association.
Within the framework of this meeting, and after a very reasoned technical debate, the Council unanimously approved; first, to extend for fifteen days the temporary closure of hunting activity in the municipality of Haría, with opening scheduled for September 4, if the technical reports support it; and second, to extend the hunting days in the current season, setting October 30 and November 2 as extraordinary days for hunting rabbits and partridges throughout the island.
Both decisions must be formally processed and sent to the Government of the Canary Islands for official validation and endorsement.
A responsibility of all
President Oswaldo Betancort has thanked "the involvement of all members of the Island Hunting Council, who have shown great vision in a delicate moment in which the priority must always be the defense of public health and the preservation of the biodiversity of our island." Betancort stressed that "Haría is being subjected to intensive surveillance, but even so there have been new poisonings, which forces us to maintain maximum prudence."
For his part, Councilor Samuel Martín has expressed his gratitude "to the teams that during these weeks have worked on tracking and detecting baits and affected animals, in difficult and painful circumstances for the hunting community and citizens in general." Martín also added that "the unanimous agreements adopted today reflect the collective responsibility in the search for solutions, as well as the firmness in the defense of legality and the safety of people and animals."
The technical representative of the regional Executive present at the meeting endorsed the suitability of the measures adopted by the Cabildo.
Likewise, hunters were reminded that, in case of locating any of their dogs dead in suspicious circumstances, they should not bury it, since in this way the chain of custody of the evidence necessary for the investigation would be lost
