Court cancels tender for hunting red deers in Bolu

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The court has pronounced its final ruling in the lawsuit filed by the Vegan Association of Turkey (TVD) against a tender for hunting 15 red deers in Bolu province and ruled that the tender shall be canceled.

After the tender was announced by the permission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the TVD took legal action on October 21, 2021 for the right to life of red deers under national and international protection.

The Bolu Administrative Court previously ruled that the execution of the tender should be halted as it concluded that the petitions and expert opinions sent to court by the ministry and arguing that the hunt was necessary were scientifically inadequate and contradictory.

According to the TVD's statement, the Bolu Administrative Court has handed down its final ruling and canceled the tender. As indicated in the 11-page justified ruling, the administrative court has concluded that the tender for hunting the deers "doesn't have compliance with the law."

Court ruling

During the judicial process, the Ankara Bar Animal Rights Center's request for intervening in the trial was rejected while the requests of Justice for Animals Association and Animal Rights and Ethics Association were accepted. The Toros Altay Turizm company, alongside the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, also interfered in the trial as "it would suffer economic losses in the event that the tender for hunting was canceled."

While the tourism company argued that the TVD was not eligible to file a lawsuit, the administrative court has indicated in its final ruling that this allegation was "not taken into consideration".

Having given a ruling of stay of execution in early November and ruled for the continuation of the stay of execution by finding deficiencies and contradictions in the expert reports, the administrative court has once again found the expert reports submitted to court inadequate.

The related scientific and technical reports had been prepared by the İstanbul Cerrahpaşa University Faculty of Forestry, Isparta University of Applied Sciences Faculty of Forestry and Düze University Faculty of Forestry and were presented to court by the ministry.

The final court ruling has noted that "the reports mostly mentioned the benefits of the hunting activities against wild animals" and concluded that the research-inventory documents are not adequate and that the presented inventory data "does not include an evaluation, analysis or finding proving that the data can be used as a basis and is adequate".

In a message on its social media account, the TVD has announced the court ruling and extended its thanks to the rights defenders who have contributed to the struggle against hunting. (TP/SD)