ICNF suspends Torrebela Hunting Zone licence after slaughter of 540 animals

The Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) will suspend the permit for the Torrebela Hunting Zone in Azambuja, with immediate effect, presenting the public prosecutor with a report of a crime against the preservation of fauna.

"The ICNF will immediately suspend the Torrebela Tourist Hunting Zone licence (No. 2491-ICNF), following the slaughter of 540 animals on that surrounded farm. The investigations carried out by the ICNF made it possible to gather strong evidence of non-compliance by the concessionaire of the hunting area, particularly those relating to the promotion and sustainable management of fauna, among other failures", says statement issued by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action.

"In the investigation process carried out by the ICNF, in which it is being assisted by a GNR/SEPNA brigade, strong evidence of a crime against the preservation of fauna was collected during a mount held on 17 and 18 December, in which 16 hunters participated," he said.

The note read that the Minister for the Environment and Climate Action, João Matos Fernandes, will also call for the National Hunting Council to reflect at the beginning of the year on the practice of mounts in Portugal.

"It is the ministry's understanding that changes to the law are needed to prevent the terrible events that have been reported from being repeated," he added.

The ministry stresses that "the reports and news about the indiscriminate slaughter of animals in Herdade da Torrebela have nothing to do with hunting, understood as a practice that can contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystems.