Illegal Meat Sales: Hobby Hunters Under Suspicion
An employee of the Saxon State Office for the Environment (LfULG) has for years been running an extensive illegal trade in the meat of shot mute swans.
Over 100 mute swans slaughtered and sold
A corresponding complaint was filed by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter with the Lower Hunting Authority of the Bautzen district.
As the association reports, the accused is suspected of having, since 2016, slaughtered more than 100 mute swans he had shot and illegally sold their smoked breast meat to gourmets via an online forum. The man is a hunting licence holder who, as recently as the beginning of the month, had offered “smoked ham from swan breast” for sale. The listing was illustrated with a photograph of a smoking cabinet in which around 50 “fresh swan breast fillets” were stored.
17 sales listings online
Similar sales listings — 17 in total, according to the Committee — had already been published by the man in previous years. “An analysis of photographs revealed that the accused had offered more than 100 mute swans for sale online in the form of breast fillets or legs over recent years,” reports Committee Director Alexander Heyd.
In response to enquiries from customers, the man also confirmed that these werewild animals that he had shot in a hunting territory in Upper Lusatia. This could now cost him his hunting licence, as the marketing and acquisition of wild swans or parts thereof is strictly prohibited under § 2 of the Federal Wildlife Protection Regulation.
Intentional commission of the offence suspected
The prohibition applies also and in particular to animals that are legally killed by hobby hunters. The legislature thereby seeks to preventbirds are shot in masses out of greed for profit. Alexander Heyd: "This seems to be exactly the case here. As an employee of the State Office for the Environment and as a holder of a hunting license, he must have been aware of this regulation. We therefore assume intentional, habitual, and possibly also commercial commission of the offense."
According to the committee, investigations are also to be conducted against possible buyers of the man. They face fines of up to 5’000 euros under § 39 of the Federal Hunting Act.
