How can we make hunting safer?

OFFICIALS of the Green Party and the Cyprus Hunting Association have agreed to sit down and put forward new ideas to enhance safety measures during hunting season.
Pantelis Hadjigerou of the Game Services has told the Cyprus Mail that hunting safety is an issue for hunters, not for his service. But Green Party Deputy George Perdikis does not agree.

“I do not agree with Mr Hadjigerou,” said Perdikis. “I believe the state should have an active role in keeping safe the lives of innocent civilians, so I don’t believe that hunting safety should fall only on hunters’ laps. With regards to the meeting we will have with the hunters, we will discuss various ways in which we can make hunting more safe for everybody on the island.”

Agreeing with Perdikis was the Chairman of the Cyprus Hunting Association, Andreas Kyprianou, who told the Cyprus Mail that the state was obliged to accommodate the growing number of hunters on the island

“The biggest problems we have are usually on the first days of hunting season. As we all know, the opening day of hunting season is greeted with thousands of hunters pouring into the few hunting areas we have on the island and that is dangerous. I wouldn’t say that Cypriot hunters are not as good or safe as hunters from other countries, but they could be better.

“It is vital that the state reopens or opens up other areas on the island for hunters because it is apparent that more hunting areas are needed to accommodate the thousands of hunters throughout the island.”

Neither the Green Party nor the Hunters’ Association knew when the meeting would take place.

Two weeks ago, a 12-year-old boy was killed on the opening day of hunting season when his uncle slipped and fell, resulting in his shotgun misfiring and fatally wounding the youngster.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.