TEHRAN – While the lack of serious supervision over the past years has led to a huge number of illegal mist nets installed in the country’s valuable wildlife habitats, any act of illegal shooting, trapping or persecuting the birds will be harshly punished in accordance with the law, Mazandaran province’s prosecutor has said.

Mist nets are fine nets that are suitable for capturing birds in woodlands. The fine net is strung across trees so as to lie in the flight path of a bird.

Younes Alami paid a surprise visit to Fereydunkenar wildlife refuge in Mazandaran province on November 28, with the provincial department of environment officials and the governor in attendance.

Fereydunkenar wildlife refuge, where hunting is prohibited, has been tied up by the poacher’s traps and mist nets, so that even a sparrow cannot cross the area, he further regretted, adding, poor supervision in past few years is definitely the reason behind such violations.

Fereydunkenar wildlife refuge, where hunting is prohibited, has been tied up by the poacher’s traps and mist nets so that even a sparrow cannot cross the area and poor supervision in past few years is definitely the reason behind such violations.Any act of capturing migratory birds or installation of illegal traps and mist nets is considered violation, and we will vigorously pursue the issue through judicial system, Alami told Tasnim on Sunday.
Initially, operations to collect and destroy all the traps is a priority, all the mist nets will be collected through the province in a short period, he highlighted.
Referring to the necessity of job generation for the region’s locals, he noted that we have started to find a way of income generation for those who have earned money from illegal hunting of migratory birds during winters since past years.
Bird hunting is a way of earning income mostly in northern part of the country especially in winters, when the agricultural lands are not under cultivation, so property owners install bird traps and mist nets over their farms to catch birds as a source of income.
Earlier in November, the provincial department of environment chief Moslem Ahangari said that some 400 illegal mist nets have been destroyed and cleared from some areas of Babolsar and Fereydunkenar in Mazandaran province, northern part of the country.

FB/MQ/MG