Hares in Limburg do not have to fear for their lives in the coming hunting season. Minister Christianne van der Wal for Nature and Nitrogen will ban hunters in our province from targeting the hare.
The rabbit is no longer the hare either. Van der Wal has decided to protect the two animal species in the 2022-2023 season because there are fewer and fewer of them in the wild. The hare hunting ban also applies in the provinces of Groningen and Utrecht. The ban on shooting rabbits applies to the entire country.
Numbers are decreasing
Research into the five huntable animals, rabbit, hare, wood pigeon, pheasant and mallard, shows that the numbers are decreasing. The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) hopes to restore the populations in collaboration with provinces and interest groups. One way is to allow hunting only in an area where one or more animal species thrive. For the time being, the hunting ban is limited to rabbits and hare. Hunting restrictions may also follow for the mallard, wood pigeon and pheasant from 2023.
Limburg hunters
“I question how this decision came about,” says Wim Grave. The chairman of the Limburg Hunters’ Association doubts whether the decision-making process is correct. “I have not yet seen the studies, because they were not public. So you wonder how careful these studies are. Whether they are also sufficiently tailored to come to this decision.”
Agriculture
Hunting is not the main cause of the decline in the number of animals on the wildlife list, LNV reports. This is more due to the fact that the habitats of the aforementioned animals are becoming smaller and smaller and decreasing in quality. The intensification and increase in scale of agriculture and the application of agricultural machinery play a major role in this. Different land management and advice about mowing would help the endangered animals to survive, the ministry says.
counting animals
LNV also wants animal counting to be used by hunters’ associations in the future to gain more insight into the wildlife population. The ministry does aim to improve the counting method and the collection of data. Furthermore, LNV, together with the provinces and other parties involved, wants to map out the social and financial consequences if the hunt is cancelled.