Serious injury as hunting season opens

The hunting season got off to a flying start on Sunday with a 76 per cent increase in woodpigeons killed and marginally fewer turtledoves.

One hunter was also seriously injured after accidently shooting himself.

According to the Game Fund, hunters took home an average of around 0.9 pigeons each, compared with 0.5 last year and 0.7 the year before.

In contrast, the average number of turtledoves killed by each hunter fell from 0.33 in 2010 to 0.3this year.

Although it is now open season for quail, the game fund did not release any figures and according to the game fund, few have arrived on the island.

The opening day of the season also saw several hunters nabbed for various transgressions:

Out of the 1,000 hunters that were interviewed by the Game Fund’s 24 man team, six were found to be poaching, three had expired licences and two were in unauthorised areas.

A further three minor transgressions were settled out of court.

The hunting season also claimed its first human casualty early on Sunday when a Paphos hunter accidentally shot himself in the leg.

Dimitris Aristotelos, 25, was hunting in a remote area near Paphos, between Kanaviou and Lapithos. At around 10am his gun accidentally discharged and wounded his thigh.

Aristotelos was airlifted by police helicopter to the hospital and was yesterday said to be in critical condition in Paphos general hospital.

Police were said to be collecting evidence and examining the scene.

Asked about the first day, Game fund director Pantelis Hadjiyerou said: “It went very smoothly without any unpleasant situations, with the exception of one injured hunter in Paphos.”

The hunting federation granted 47,716 licences this year, down just slightly from 48,137 in 2010 after more than 300 hunters’ licences were revoked because they were twice caught poaching.

Hadjiyerou and local bird conservation organisation Birdlife said last week that despite the high number of licences and increasing trend in killed birds, the size of the population meant there is no conservation issue.

 

 

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