Belev and Sandov Allowed Trophy Hunt of Protected Wild Goats

Former minister of environment and waters Borislav Sandov and his substitute Toma Belev allowed the trophy hunt of protected wild goats in Devin Hunting Farm, Eco News states.

According to the information, three animals were killed - two males and one female.

One male specimen was shot by the German hunter Wolfgang Zhorden,who arrived in Bulgaria on December 5, 2022.

According to forestry officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the specimen is a trophy, and the foreigner paid thousands of BGN to obtain the permission to hunt protected species. This is the reason why State Hunting Farm Devin obtained a permission to shoot by derogation.

The permit was issued by the Ministry of Environment and Water, when it was run by green activists Toma Belev and Borislav Sandov.

Eco News received this information following an official inquiry to the press center of the Ministry of Environment and Water.

"For 2022, in connection with a protocol approved by Minister Borislav Sandov from meeting of the Interdepartmental Working Group, 6 permits were issued

for exceptions of 6 holdings for the use of a total of 28 pcs. wild goats.

The permits were issued by Deputy Minister Toma Belev as authorized person to issue permits for protected exception species", have confirmed for Eco News sources from the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Consent for the shooting of the protected species was also given by the Wildlife Association nature Balkans, managed by Sandov's advisor Andrey Kovachev,as well as from the Swiss-Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation, which are members of the council that issues the decisive.

It turned out that the case is not only not an exception, but SHF Devin has been advertised to wealthy foreigners as a wild goat hunting destination – something for which they collect tens of thousands of BGN.

Four hypotheses are substantiated in the Biodiversity Act, according to which the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications may authorize the shooting of protected species of animals. None of the conditions listed above is a prerequisite for Sandov and Belev to grant permission to shoot protected species of goats. From all this it becomes clear that with the cooperation of two of the most active greens, Belev and Sandov, our country has become a destination for hunting protected species of rich Europeans, and not only this, Eco News comments.