The Federal Property Management Agency asked for permission to donate animals confiscated from poachers rather than kill them

The head of the Federal Property Management Agency, Dmitry Pristankov, complained that by law the agency is obliged to auction or destroy animals confiscated from poachers. He asked permission to give them to conservation and scientific organizations instead.

As Dmitry Pristankov explained, now, according to the law, confiscated animals that are not included in the Red Book and do not fall under the international conservation convention are transferred to the balance of the Federal Property Management Agency. The department is forced to put the animals up for auction, and if no one buys them, then destroy them, RIA Novosti reports .

“We have a situation with a lynx that was taken from poachers without a leg. The non-profit foundation carried out the operation, nursed her, and then the court decided to seize her from the foundation and put her up for auction. No one needs such a lynx. The fund was ready to take it for free, but no, the court decided to put it up for sale,” Pristankov explained.

The head of the department proposed not to kill animals, but to transfer them free of charge to environmental, cultural and scientific organizations, not only to government agencies, but also to commercial and public institutions.

As Sergei Ivanov, the representative of the President of the Russian Federation on environmental issues, ecology and transport, commented, “for many it is close to shock to find out that this is happening in our law.” He said that this is a gap in the legislation that urgently needs to be corrected. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Natural Resources are preparing amendments to the government resolution.

In October 2016, animal rights activists opposed the adoption of a Russian law that would have allowed the use of snares, the hunting of brown bears in dens in December and January, when females give birth, and also extended the period of spring and dog hunting. These amendments were opposed by Greenpeace Russia and the International Fund for Animal Welfare IFAW.