Carcasses of over 600 protected birds seized from Romanian driver in Hungary
Carcasses of more than 600 pine thrushes were seized from a Romanian driver en route to Rome on motorway M7 in western Hungary, the National Tax and Customs Authority (NAV) said on Friday.
An inspection of the car’s trailer revealed the frozen carcasses of the thrushes killed with a gun packed in several bags, NAV said in a statement. The driver and the passenger said they had left from Galati with the consignment and had no information either about its content or its dispatcher.
The value of the birds is estimated at 15 million forints (37,000 euros). NAV has filed a report with national police, the authority said in a statement.
- Read also: Bomb threat in a Budapest downtown event
Minister of agriculture: Preserving biodiversity common obligation
Hungary invested at an unprecedented level in environmental protection over the past decade in order to preserve its natural resources, Minister of Agriculture István Nagy said at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in Montreal late on Thursday, local time.
Nagy told the meeting that Hungary’s new agricultural support system involves several measures that promote preserving biodiversity. Thanks to new allocations entering force in January, a significant influence can be made on preserving the diversity of the flora and fauna, considering that over 50 percent of Hungary’s territory is cultivated, he added.
Over the past decade, Hungary has spent over 300 million euros on improving the condition of natural habitats on over 300,000 hectares, representing some 15 percent of protected areas which account for over one-fifth of the country’s territory, he said. In the next five years, nature protection developments are planned on at least 100,000 hectares, with some 112 million euros allocated for the purpose, he added.
Read alsoLots of people protested against tree-felling in Budapest
Source: MTI