Stop Poison in Europe
On 7th February 2011 a trial on poison was presented at court. The case was against three people who had used poison to kill carnivores in the province of Lleida in Catalonia, Spain. The poisoning happened two years ago and unfortunately many animals in a hunting reserve were poisoned. The bodies of the wild animals were never found but several dogs were found poisoned. A year and a half ago the owner of one of the poisoned dogs contacted the poison hotline and complained about the poisoning. The case was taken on board and reached the courts with the following result of the trial: two of the accused received a two year prison sentence and one of the accused a one year prison sentence. Furthermore they have to pay each affected dog owner €5,000 and are prohibited to hunt for three years.
The poison that these criminals used is carbofuran which is also a highly dangerous chemical for humans. It was made illegal in the European Union one year ago. Unfortunately it is still possible to buy carbofuran in markets in Mediterranean countries because it was originally used as an agrochemical for citrus and beetroot plantations.
On 8th February 2011 the court case was published in newspapers across Spain to highlight the problem with poison. The publicity will hopefully prevent some future poison cases. The timing of the court case is also very fitting as there is usually an increase in poison cases from February to June. Hunters use this time to ‘clean’ the hunting reserve of carnivores as they are competing with the hunters for prey during the hunting season.
