More than 1,000 trees felled in nature reserve

A total of 1,135 trees in a protected area near the eastern Slovak village of Ruský Hrabovec have been cut down without permission, and police from Michalovce (Košice region) have launched a criminal investigation concerning violations of legislation protecting flora and fauna, Košice Police HQ spokesman Alexander Szabó told TASR on Tuesday. The felling is supposed to have taken place in February on land registered as arable land and permanent grassland coming under the first (lowest) level of natural protection. The trees concerned were mainly hornbeams (482), alders (339) and poplars (191). Small numbers of birch, beech, maple, willow and cherry trees were also cut down. "The perpetrator thus violated the law concerning nature and landscape protection. The 'social value' of the trees, based on a count by the Vihorlat Protected Landscape Area [CHKO Vihorlat] amounts to at least €784,000", said Szabo. A crime of this nature incurs a penalty of three to eight years imprisonment.