Hunting Stands Deliberately Destroyed in Southern Finland
In Kouvola and other regions of southern Finland, dozens of hunting stands have been destroyed or sabotaged over the past months.
The damage ranges from the complete demolition of entire towers to the deliberate sawing through of load-bearing components, which can be life-threatening for hobby hunters.
In addition to Kouvola, Sipoo, Porvoo and southwestern Finland are also affected, as the Finnish portal “yle” reported.
The Southeast Finland Police have so far recorded three criminal complaints and advise hobby hunters to inspect every hunting stand before use. Similar cases already occurred last autumn, with investigations subsequently closed due to a lack of leads.
The animal rights group Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for several of these actions via email. According to their own statement, the intention is to make hunting more difficult, but not to deliberately set traps. In Sipoo, however, damage was identified that could potentially have led to collapses.
It is not part of our procedures to turn deer towers into traps, and if this had happened anywhere, we would condemn the actions, the organisation writes.
Hunting clubs such as the Elimäki Game Management Association and the club Paukku view the sabotage as targeted attacks by hunting opponents. For them, the reconstruction represents considerable work and expense, especially since deer hunting begins in October.
