The Environment Ministry has lost a court case regarding the granting of an exemption for the shooting of bears in Liptov. This is the decision in the first of 33 lawsuits filed by the non-governmental organizations My sme les in cooperation with the Aevis Foundation and Via Iuris. The ministry takes note of the decision of the Administrative Court in Bratislava, but plans to appeal against it.
The Senate agreed with several of the plaintiff's arguments. One of them, for example, says that the exceptions do not sufficiently specify which bears the ministry considers problematic, which may lead to the killing of the wrong individual. There is also a lack of identification of problematic bears - however, according to State Secretary Filip Kuffa, this is not possible in practice with young individuals.
The court's decision is final. The Ministry must reimburse the plaintiff's legal costs in full.
Source: STVR
