Albania's Illegal Hunters Flaunt Prey Online

Hunters bragging about killing wild rabbits in snowy parts of Albania have become a hit on social media in the last days of December and the first days of 2016.

None of these hunters can be unaware of the fact that their shoots are totally illegal.

All hunting in Albania was banned for two years in 2014 and the moratorium does not run out until March.

Brutal-looking pictures of hunters with their prey on social media have meanwhile alarmed groups that work for environmental and wildlife protection.

They have called on the Ministry of Environment and State Policy to take action.

Kujtim Mersini, chair of Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania, PPNEA, an NGO, told BIRN that the ban on hunting needs to be upheld.

"Institutions in charge should raise awareness to stop hunting and stop these offenders because these creatures will soon enter into the breeding phase and the losses [from shooting] will be all the bigger," he said.

He says that the ban has significantly decreased the level of hunting - but has clearly not stopped it completely.

"Hunting has continued in the mountain areas of Puka, Mirdita, Librazhd, Dibra and Prespa. The facts are online, and also in bars and restaurants when you see very recently stuffed animals and bears," he said.

The media adviser to the environment ministry, Ana Kekezi, said officials are following when hunting pictures are shown online. But she said identification of offenders was difficult.

"It is difficult for the Inspectorate of the Environment and Forests to track cases displayed on social media because most cases came from anonymous profiles and in others they claim that the pictures are old," Kekezi said.

If offenders are caught, in...