The hunting of turtle doves should be banned "already this year", defend the six environmental associations that make up the C6 Coalition. The organizations came to the public warning of the risk of extinction of this species, which is "disappearing at a galloping rate in Portugal and Europe", a few days before the opening date of the hunting season, scheduled for 21 August.
According to Coalition C6, made up of the associations GEOTA, FAPAS, LPN (League for the Protection of Nature), Quercus, SPEA-Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds and WWF Portugal, the population of this migratory species has decreased «73 percent in the last 20 years old".
A "serious" situation that leads Portuguese environmentalists to demand from the ministers of Agriculture and Environment the ban "as a matter of urgency, the hunting of Rola-brava, in order to prevent the extinction of this magnificent species."
Environmentalists point out that "on the date scheduled for the opening of turtle dove hunting, still during the month of August, it is likely that there will be many turtledoves in nesting still with young in the nest and, occasionally, late-laying or second-laying eggs."
“Coupled with the number and extension of forest fires that have occurred in Portugal, this situation will cause an even greater drop in the already weakened wild turtle populations”, they claim.
«Coalition C6 considers that the irresponsibility and insensitivity shown in this matter by successive governments can contribute to the extinction of Rolanda in Portugal in the very short term.
Every year, environmental associations and some organizations in the hunting sector have publicly alerted those responsible for the pressing problem of the Rola-brava's extinction risk», accuses the associations.
The wild turtle (Streptopelia turtur) was included in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature, with the status of vulnerable. "This inclusion in the list is an international and scientific recognition of the threat of extinction that the species faces", defends the coalition. This appeal to ban the hunting of wild turtledoves has been made by environmentalists in recent years, without any success.
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