Hundreds of jackals that local residents consider a nuisance will be hunted in the remote and protected Danube Delta region, authorities said on Monday.
The Danube Delta Administration has began discussions with the environment ministry about how 300 jackals will be hunted, G4media reported.
Poor communities in the region have repeatedly complained that the local jackal population has multiplied and is damaging people’s livelihoods.
The animals attack wild birds and birds in the protected area. They also break into property and kill animals kept by local residents.
Despite the natural riches and high-end tourism, many locals are poor in the isolated area located in far eastern Romania.
But animal groups which oppose hunting argue that residents should have more solid protection around their properties. They claim the culling is a first step to allowing widescale hunting in the area, one of the most important biodiversity regions in Europe.
Danube Delta governor Atena Groza said the culling would start this winter.
The Romanian Academy and the Environment ministry have given their approval.
“The problem is how the animals are extracted, who can do it and in what conditions. It needs to also be efficient as we know, the jackal is an opportunistic species and extremely intelligent. Hunting this species is hard,” she said.
The Danube Delta is a patchwork of water and land crossing Romania and Ukraine.
It covers 4,300 sq km and has 300 species of birds and dozens of species of fish in its lakes and marshes.
In 1991, the Romanian part of the delta became part of UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.
