Illegal hunting, trade of wild animals cut by half in 2017

AMMAN — Cases of illegal hunting, possession and trade of wild birds and animals dropped almost by half in 2017 compared to the previous year, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) said.

The number of cases of illegal hunting, possession and trade of wild birds and animals in 2017 stood at 155, compared with 280 cases in 2016, marking a 44.6 per cent drop in one year, according to RSCN's 2017 annual report, a copy of which was made available to The Jordan Times.

The RSCN showed in its annual report that it has increased the number of inspection tours from 1,704 in 2016 to 1,728 tours in 2017, with Mujib Biosphere Reserve, which is home to the once-extinct Nubian Ibex, witnessing a significant increase in the number of inspection patrols during the past year.

Turtles, water snakes, monkeys, coral reefs, foxes, a crocodile and a hyena were among the seized and confiscated animals in 2017, when the nature inspectors also seized and confiscated falcons, owls and 2,000 dead figbirds among other kinds of birds, according to the report.

Many of the seized and confiscated animals and birds are globally endangered and on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, according to the RSCN.

The report, released during the RSCN's annual general assembly, also indicated that it issued more hunting licences in 2017 than in 2016, with a respective total of 3,220 and 2,763 licences. 

Established in 1966 as an independent non-profit organisation and mandated in 1973 by the government to regulate hunting and protect the Kingdom’s wildlife, the society issued a total of 2,874 hunting licences in 2015 and recorded 114 hunting violations at the same year.