As of October 19, the Environmental Protection Agency did not respond to the inquiry of the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds (CZIP) about protected bird species, recently exhibited at the small animal fair in Podgorica.
They claim that some of the birds they saw at the Podgorica Stock Market as part of the "Autumn Small Animal Show" are categorized as endangered species on the IUCN red list.
"We believe that, as a result, they could not have been grown, kept or legally put into circulation legally and with the approval of the Agency", announced the CZIP.
The EPA did not even answer the questions of "Vijesti" under which conditions someone can grow a protected bird or animal species in Montenegro and how many such breeders are registered in our country.
The CZIP claims that the red-throated goose, a bird threatened by habitat loss and poaching, which has reduced its population by 40 percent, was seen at the fair, as well as the red-billed duck, whose main range is in Asia, and which is rarely seen in our country. .
"There are also birds from the order of songbirds such as winter warbler - Pyrhulla pyrhulla, canary - Serinus serinus, goldfinch - Carduelis carduelis, for which there must be documents on origin, i.e. purchase, otherwise they are birds that were caught in nature, which is illegal and inadmissible", reads the CZIP announcement.
Two days ago, the police detained Ljubo Kostić, a resident of Podgorica, on suspicion of illegally catching a protected bird species - the stiltfoot - in Ćemovsko polje. The criminal complaint was filed by CZIP activists, and the case is with the primary prosecutor.
"Hereby, based on the Law on Free Access to Information, we ask you to provide us with the register of breeders, who are approved for the breeding of wild species of birds with accompanying solutions, since that register is not available on the website.
We also appeal to the Agency, according to the information presented by the CZIP, to launch an initiative for a comprehensive determination of the situation in the domain of illegal breeding and keeping of wild animals, in order to regulate this area in accordance with the existing legal regulations", the CZIP press release reads.
The fair was organized on October 14. The Law on Nature Protection stipulates that the EPA is the competent administrative body for issuing permits to natural or legal persons for the purpose of breeding wild species of animals in captivity.
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