Colombia: Wildlife Wins Against Recreational Hunting
In Colombia, wildlife is winning the fight against recreational hunting. A court ruling bans the hunting of native wildlife nationwide.
After Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, Botswana, Oman, Costa Rica (2012), and many other regions, it is now Colombia's turn. Colombia's Constitutional Court has issued a landmark ruling for animals: it declared recreational hunting unconstitutional. On this basis, a ban on recreational hunting in Colombia will come into force one year after the judicial decision.
According to the presiding judge, recreational hunting violates the environmental protections enshrined in the constitution:
It is constitutionally impermissible to kill or torment animals merely for fun [...], as this does not correspond to the duty or constitutional mandate to protect nature [...].”
He also noted that animals are sentient beings. Colombia's Ministry of the Environment had previously already determined that this form of hunting serves only the entertainment of hunters and causes animal suffering.
Attorney and animal rights advocate Laura Santacoloma had filed a lawsuit seeking to have recreational hunting declared unconstitutional, as it contradicts Colombian laws regarding the care and protection of wildlife and the environment. Judge Antonio José Lizarazo agreed and ruled: «It is constitutionally impermissible to kill or mistreat animals exclusively for recreational purposes«.
The motivation to kill an animal for fun is different from killing for food. Animals are not objects — they are beings with feelings.
Colombia is the most biodiverse country in the world after Brazil.
This decision will save the lives of countless deer, doves, ducks, rabbits, peccaries, and other animals. Those who want to “shoot” animals in their leisure time in Colombia will fortunately soon only be allowed to do so with a camera!
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
