Angry as a lynx.
The phrase rooted in speech is not easy to explain to the younger generations, because this largest species of cat in Europe has disappeared - eradicated from Montenegrin forests.
Although the territory with two-thirds of forests, the largest lake in the Balkans, salt flats and a salt pan should be a kind of oasis, due to illegal human activities on the one hand and the inaction of responsible government departments and agencies on the other hand, it is becoming a dangerous place for plants and animals, including protected species.
Rare and protected birds, snakes, fish and eels, molluscs are endangered. Poaching and other illegal activities of people contribute the most to this, but also the inadequate attitude of the authorities and mild court practice - the research showed. Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) and “Monitor".
The enumeration of individual species whose danger is indicated by ecologists is not complete, because in Montenegro there is still no "red list" of plants, animals and fungi, a list of endangered species as prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN.
The Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism confirmed for CIN-CG/"Monitor" that, according to the Law on Nature Protection, this list is determined by the Agency for Nature and Environmental Protection, explaining that "in the coming period, the possibilities of providing funds for this need".
The Agency told CIN-CG/"Monitor" that they have repeatedly asked for money from the budget but also from foreign donors for this project, for which, as they claim, it is necessary to hire the entire expert staff in Montenegro.
Until then, for example, hunting of eels, an endangered species on the global "red list", remains permitted in the "Skadar Lake" National Park.
"Montenegro likes to sign international declarations, but does not respect them. Thus, in our country, hunting of two endangered species from the "red list" is allowed - partridges and turtle doves. We sent emergency calls to stop it, but in vain. The partridge and turtle dove are now on non-invasive therapy, and if we don't do something they will soon end up on a ventilator. Even if it has a good will, the turtledove is a migratory bird - it flies across the Mediterranean, goes to Africa, it will be difficult to protect it. And we still hunt it,'' ornithologist Darko Saveljić tells CIN-CG/"Monitor".
In Montenegro, about 200.000 birds die annually, recently warned again from the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds (CZIP). This is information from the BirdLife International report "The Killing 2.0 - A view to a kill", from 2018, which states that 64.000 to 197.000 protected birds are killed every year in Montenegro. When it was published, it caused fiery reactions and challenges from hunting organizations.
The report was created based on data from hunting organizations and the assessment of ornithologists in the field, the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism explains.
"As such estimates are based on the reports of hunting organizations, which have also been assessed as unreliable by the Agency for Nature and Environmental Protection, we believe that the only solution is the revision of by-laws related to the organization of hunting, as well as the initiation of a social dialogue that would a solution has been reached'', they announce from this government department.
The disorderly area is also evidenced by the news about the found prohibited hunting "cheques" in the nature park Ulcinjska solana, a nesting ground for more than 250 species of birds, the recent killing of a bear in Berane, the keeping of wolves in the yard in the Podgorica settlement in Tološi, the killed doe and fawn...
The enormous wealth of the living world
In terms of biodiversity, the diversity of the living world, Montenegro represents one of the most important areas in Europe, says biologist Dr. Bogić Gligorović for CIN-CG/"Monitor".
As he says, 70 percent of mammal species, 75 percent of bird species, 50 percent of freshwater and 79 percent of marine fish species, and 30 percent of plant species live on the territory of Montenegro. Invertebrates have not been investigated in detail, but it is believed that about 30.000 species live on the territory of Montenegro, and there is also a significant number of relict and endemic species.
"Certain species in Montenegro were on the verge of extinction or disappeared due to excessive hunting and poaching. Such an example is the Balkan lynx, which has been exterminated. In the latest research, only a few specimens of the peregrine falcon were found, while the griffon vulture and the white harrier disappeared several decades ago due to wolf poisoning, the reduction of nomadic livestock farming and lack of food. The species of dragonflies, the great feather-tailed horse and the eastern blue maiden, are endangered due to the drying up of swamps and small streams,'' Gligorović enumerates.
He says there are also positive examples, such as the restoration of the wolf population:
"Thanks to intensive protection measures, the number of chamois and bears is increasing. The pelican was on the verge of disappearing, but intensive conservation activities restored a large population on Lake Skadar.
The existing national legislation in Montenegro protects 873 species: six algae, 111 mushrooms, 27 mosses, two ferns, 272 plants, nine sponges, seven corals, many arthropods, 18 molluscs, five spider-like arthropods, four types of crustaceans, 14 insects, six echinoderms, 11 fish, 16 amphibians, 26 reptiles, 298 birds and 35 mammal species.
We have protected species, but it is not known how they are protected, claims biologist Vuk Iković. In an interview with CIN-CG / "Monitor", he reminds of poisonous snakes, including the viper, which are protected in Serbia and Croatia, but not in Montenegro.
Iković also points out the great influence of the hunting lobby, which resulted in some species not being on the protected list.
The Ministry of Ecology answered the question of CIN-CG/"Monitor" that "there is no precise data on the condition and number of each of the protected animal species".
"The lists of protected species are not complete and have shortcomings. Certain species do not exist in Montenegro, or they have disappeared or were entered into the lists by mistake. Also, a large number of extremely important species are not protected. It is necessary to revise and update the lists as soon as possible, as well as establish different levels of protection based on the results of detailed ecological research,'' Gligorović points out.
The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed for CIN-CG/"Monitor" that the list needs to be revised "on the basis of expert opinion":
"Since 2000, intensive field work and data collection for the species present on the list of the Directive on habitats and birds on the territory of Montenegro has been carried out through activities on the identification of Nature 2016 areas. However, these species do not fully match the list of protected ones in Montenegro (due to the fact that the list of the Directive on habitats does not include nationally important species for protection, but those that are important for the member states of the European Union), but certainly these data will be updated in the future period can be used to define the status and protected species that are compatible".
The Ministry and the Agency state that, although monitoring has been carried out for years, "available funds were not sufficient to carry out comprehensive research that would provide a complete picture of the condition and status of all protected species."
"The zero state of biodiversity has not been determined, because due to the lack of funds, that is, small investments in scientific research, there are no databases in Montenegro. Determining the number of species present, their distribution on the territory of Montenegro and the parameters of their populations should be the first step in order to ensure the protection of biodiversity in an appropriate manner," says Gligorović.
How bad the situation is is shown by the fact that more detailed data and estimates about changes in the number and structure of fish populations in Lake Skadar have not been published since the 80s of the last century, according to the analysis of Nature Protection in Montenegro published by the NGO Green Home.
Different data on the number of animals shot
Data that are updated annually are those on the number of game animals. Biologists warn that they are collected based on the assessment of hunting associations, that scientific methods are not applied, and that they are not reliable. And they differ.
The Ministry of Agriculture, the Agency for Nature Protection and Monstat collect data on the state of game and hunting. According to the latest available data for 2019, Monstat states that the number of wolves is 601 and foxes are 7.748, the Agency claims - there are 569 wolves and 7.856 foxes.
Monstat states that in 2019, 31 wolves were shot, 1.163 foxes, the Agency 29 wolves and 1.190 foxes.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, 181 wolves were authorized to be shot, and 31 were killed, while 1.824 foxes were killed out of the 1.233 authorized. According to the Ministry, 3.091 rabbits were killed, the Agency claims 2.517, and Monstat 3.098.
According to the Law on game and hunting, the permanent ban on hunting refers to the big weasel, bears, roe deer, chamois, hinds, as well as the big grouse and the grouse.
The list of the Ministry of Agriculture states that in 2019, the shooting of 25 deer was approved, but none were killed, and eight of the 49 roe deer authorized for hunting were killed.
Officially, according to the data of the Ministry, hunters hunt less than what they are authorized to do. Thus, in 2019, the hunting of 1.536 wild boars was approved, and 940 were killed, nine were shot by foreigners. 1.941 rock partridges were authorized to be killed and 537 were shot, plus 25 shot by foreign hunters.
The Hunting Association of Montenegro told CIN-CG/"Monitor" that it is not possible to determine the number of wild game with absolute accuracy, and that the literature states that the permissible error in determining the number is plus/minus 20 percent.
"Hunters are the only ones who voluntarily work to maintain and improve the quality of game habitats, and thus of all protected species. It is easy to sit in the office, read and interpret regulations on nature conservation and write what is wrong. It is much more difficult to monitor all the events in nature and collect data on wild animals, their appearance, number and state of populations," says the Hunting Association.
The Hunting Association of Montenegro reminded CIN-CG/"Monitor" that, after poachers shot a female brown bear in mid-February, they signed a joint statement with the International Council for the Protection of Game and Wild Animals (CIC) and the European Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FACE) with which they condemned that crime. However, they oppose the appeal of non-governmental organizations to introduce a moratorium on hunting.
The hunting organization emphasizes that poaching cannot and must not be equated with hunting, which is a legal and regulated activity. They also warn of the experiences of banning hunting in Albania, Romania and Zambia, which led to an increase in poaching, but also retaliation by the local population against animals that harm them, such as poisoning.
"Hunting today represents the end product of game management in hunting grounds and comes as the crown of many years of work by hunters on the breeding and protection of game", claim the association.
They emphasize that hunting should not be banned because of the sustainable development of game provided by hunters, and also because of human health, as well as because of the health condition of animals, which can be threatened by infectious diseases transmitted from diseased game to other wild and domestic animals, and even to humans. They claim that, if hunters did not kill predators, "breeding populations of rabbits, partridges, roe deer..." would soon be decimated, they say, domestic animals, poultry, sheep, goats, cows, horses and others would be even more endangered.
"The situation is similar with wild boars, whose population is large in some of our hunting grounds. If they banned hunting, this population would multiply even more and as such would cause enormous damage to farming, and as carriers of infectious diseases and livestock, especially bearing in mind the African plague that has been detected in neighboring Serbia and it is a matter of days when it will also come to our hunting grounds. and then be transferred to pig farms,'' the Hunting Association points out.
The hunters' argument is that banning hunting would threaten the existence of people employed in this activity, and that some wild animals can cause damage to property (beehives, livestock, plantations, meadows), and some can directly attack people.
"That is why there is a justified fear that people could, in order to defend their property, when there is no hunting, resort to poisoning game and other forms of illegal actions, which is very dangerous for both other animals and people."
If it is according to the judgments, there is no poaching
If there were no cases that, like a killed bear, upset the public and the poachers end up in custody, according to the judgments of the poaching courts, there are almost none.
According to data submitted by CIN-CG/"Monitor" to the Basic Court in Podgorica, in the last five years, two decisions were made for the criminal offense of illegal hunting against three people, only one of whom was given a conditional sentence. Seven decisions were made for the criminal offense of killing and torturing animals and destroying their habitat. In one, which included three people, one was sentenced to work in the public interest. In the others, one person was fined, and the others were suspended.
At the level of Montenegro, 2019 people were reported for illegal hunting in 12, ten in 2018, and nine the year before, according to data from the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office.
The law stipulates a prison sentence of six months to five years for poaching a protected species.
Out of a total of 127 court cases, between 2013 and 2018, involving cases of illegal killing of animals, animal abuse and habitat destruction, more than half - 84 cases were completely dismissed.
According to reliable information from CIN-CG/"Monitor", despite the ban on fishing on Lake Skadar and the public appeal of the management of this national park to citizens not to buy fish during the ban, every weekend hundreds of kilograms are caught illegally. The administration of NP "Skadarsko jezero" has warned that it is a poaching mafia.
The National Guard Service, as reported, recently caught two people on a boat with batteries and other equipment used for poaching. Prosecutor Ivana Petrušić-Vukašević, as stated by NP Skadarsko jezero, decided that there were no elements of a criminal offense in that case, despite the fact that batteries, a negotiator and probes were found in the boats, which are used to commit the crime, so she acquitted the two men of criminal responsibility "which means that the funds for the criminal offense will be returned to them."
In addition to the lack of a database, insufficient money for research, weak work of institutions and non-application of laws, Gligorović also warns that "a low level of awareness of the importance of preserving biodiversity is a brake on the protection of species."
He believes that "it is necessary to carry out activities that will affect the way of thinking by increasing the number of biology classes in schools, as well as other educational activities". Also, he says, "it is necessary to increase investments in science and strengthen the capacities of institutions and non-governmental organizations and independent scientists engaged in research and environmental protection".
They love pigeons, they poison falcons
At the end of last year, the regional news was that a griffon vulture was shot in Montenegro. A rare protected species of bird was equipped with a satellite transmitter in Croatia, and its migration route towards the Middle East and Africa was followed. Over Montenegro, the flight was interrupted by a shot from a rifle. This protected species of birds in Montenegro is exterminated, but their flight over the territory of our country is unavoidable on the migration path, Aleksandar Perović from CZIP tells CIN-CG/"Monitor".
"We also remember Perun from 2018, which was monitored by a satellite transmitter from Croatia. Unfortunately, this individual became a victim of poaching at the Ulcinjska salt pan. One wing was found, and a CT scan showed a large amount of gunshot. The transmitter was never found. "Fojiška, a griffon vulture that was also monitored by a satellite transmitter last year, died in the same way," says Perović.
He also reminds of the case of a pelican, a globally endangered species, which was found wounded and paralyzed, also in the Ulcinj Salt Lake.
Bird poisoning and agricultural nets in which feathered game die and suffer are some of the dangers, but none of them are as big as poaching, says Perović. His colleague from CZIP, Bojan Zeković, also mentions global threats that endanger the habitats of animals and birds - urbanization, disappearance of swamps, forests in Montenegro, especially due to uncontrolled fires and concessionaires.
Zeković also cites examples of birds suffering from the power grid - a collision between a bird and the infrastructure, or when there is a connection and the bird is killed, which also leads to the interruption of the network.
"We know that the suffering is high, especially for larger species of prey such as the great hornbill, for which we have seven cases of suffering even though no research has ever been done. However, a lot of work has been done on this in Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, there are solutions. We approached CEDIS with a similar initiative, but we never received an answer," says Zeković.
He also cites poisoning as a danger, which is a problem for the wider environment as well, because it is a question of dangerous poisons that, even in small quantities, can be deadly for humans.
"This is something that pigeon fanciers usually use to kill falcons that attack their pigeons, and sacrifice the pigeon in the process. We had a case of a peregrine falcon and a pigeon in Gorica, the pigeon was coated with poison. If a child had gotten hold of this bird, it would have been a disaster," says Zeković.
Tivat's salt pans - from a landfill to a green oasis
One of the rare positive ecological examples is the Tivat salt pans - a former wild landfill and hunting ground that has been turned into a nature park.
This nature reserve, with an area of about 150 hectares, is located in the swampy part of the coastal zone of the Krtol Bay in the municipality of Tivat. The protection of this locality was initiated in 2007 by the non-governmental organization CZIP, and JP Morsko dobro, the Municipality and the Tourist Organization of Tivat joined.
For a long time, Solila was an illegal dump for garbage, rubble and other waste and wastewater, and at the same time, an active hunting ground.
Aleksandra Ivanović from Morski dobr told "Monitor"/CIN CG that Solila was protected as a special nature reserve in 2008 for the preservation of rare, rare and endangered plant and animal species, primarily ornithofauna and plant communities.
"Since the establishment of the protected area, the condition of the Tivat Solila reserve has been continuously improved through the establishment of infrastructure for bird watching, field research, promotion and education. A special emphasis was placed on work with children, where several thousand primary and secondary school students from several cities visited the reserve and had the opportunity to learn about the importance of its preservation," Marija Stanišić from CZIP told CIN-CG/"Monitor" .
Ivanović states that today Solila is important as a habitat for numerous species of organisms and represents a kind of biodiversity center of Montenegro. 10 species of reptiles, 5 species of amphibians, of which the small marmot is an endemic of the Balkan Peninsula, have been identified on Solili. During the research, 15 species of mammals and 4 species of bats were recorded, and in the canals and the Široka river, 3 species of crabs and 5 species of fish were recorded. On Solili, 42 species of dragonflies, 38 species of butterflies, 3 species of praying mantis and fifty species of other insects have been identified, of which as many as 16 are endemic species and two are protected at the European level, which is why this is a potential Natura 2000 area.
"By summarizing literature data, which were published in three key publications on the flora and vegetation of Solila, a list of 144 species and subspecies of vascular plants was formed," says Ivanović.
The results of the research showed that the overview list of Solila's vascular flora numbers 470 species/subspecies, of which 18 are on the national list of plants protected by law, 12 on CITES, 146 on the red list of world, European or Mediterranean flora... It was also recorded 20 types of mushrooms.
When the nature park was declared in 2008, Solila counted 114 species of birds that lived in this area permanently or during migration periods. The fact that the number of registered bird species has now increased significantly and amounts to a total of 178 species, of which 43 are on the Annex and the Bird Directive, and thus of great importance for protection and preservation, also shows that the work has paid off.
"In February 2018, a flock of over 100 cranes was registered in the reserve for the first time, choosing Solil as their safe resting place on their migratory journey. After that, flocks of cranes rested in the area of Solil and during the spring migration of 2019 and 2020. In April 2020, a flock of storks was also registered in the area of the reserve, which is a rare occurrence for such areas. However, the most valuable data was registered in September 2020, when three flamingos appeared in the reserve, after more than 10 years,'' emphasizes Ivanović.
NOTE: The text says 20.04.2021. a correction was made, because it was incorrectly written that the supervisors of the Skadar Lake National Park caught two poachers with "hundreds of kilograms of fish and aggregates used to kill them". There were no fish in the boat, as can be seen from the supervisor's report. The prosecution reacted to this mistake, explaining that the mentioned persons were not caught poaching, that at the time of the control there was no caught fish, and that it is possible to talk about preparatory actions "that are not punishable".
Bonus video:
