Hunting trophies displayed at Veles Theatre as federation marks 80 years

Hunting trophies from animals legally authorised for shooting were displayed in the foyer of the Veles Theatre as part of events marking the 80th anniversary of the Hunting Federation of Macedonia.

Visitors could see specimens from wolves, foxes, fallow deer, roe deer, wildcats, bear, squirrels, badgers, wild boar, chamois and mouflons — all presented as trophies taken with official shooting permits.

Federation president Vlatko Aleksovski recalled the organisation’s roots and its role in nature management: "We should remind the public that we, the hunters, are those who help animals survive the winter, we feed them, and in the summer we leave water for drinking so they can overcome the thirst caused by high temperatures. Hunters have not existed for 80 years, they have existed since the beginning of humanity, when people fed themselves by hunting. At the Second Session of ASNOM in 1945 the first regulation on hunting was adopted. Eight months later, on 18 April 1946, the Hunting Federation was formed as an Association of hunting societies," he said.

Aleksovski also noted the federation’s scale: it has 25,000 members and, from this year, a separate women’s hunters’ association has been established.

Management of hunting grounds and legal changes

Borche Serafimovski, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, said work is under way to resolve the long-standing issue of undefined management for parts of the country’s hunting grounds. "We are working on a long-standing problem in hunting — resolving undefined management of some hunting areas. Of a total of 268 hunting grounds, 21 remain in the process of allocation. With that the system will be completed and it will be clear for every hunting ground who uses it and who is responsible for its maintenance. That will protect the game in that area from illegal hunting," he said.

Interior Minister Pance Toshkovski described recent legal adjustments aimed at simplifying hunters’ access to arms and ammunition and improving oversight. "We established that five thousand citizens met the requirements for a hunting permit but had not received one, while people who should not have had weapons did. We abolished the obligation for prior approval to buy ammunition, so now a hunter goes to the shop and buys it as in any European country. Purchases are monitored through the Central Electronic System. The new Law on Weapons introduced extended user rights, so a father and son or two brothers can more easily use the same weapon. The inheritance period for weapons was also extended, because after a relative’s death the last thing on the family’s mind is a weapon and its inheritance," Toshkovski said.

Photo: SDK.MK)