Outrage in Portugal: hunters killed more than 500 deer and wild boar and authorities denounced a “massacre”

Portugal’s Environment Minister describes it as a “vile and unacceptable act” and the mayor of Azambuja, the town where it happened, has spoken of an “environmental crime”. Be careful, the images may affect your sensitivity.

An organized hunt on a ranch in the Portuguese municipality of Azambuja where they were more than 500 animals killed generated a wave of indignation in Portugal after photos and videos go viral in which you can see rows and rows of animals lying on the ground. The event drew strong criticism from city leaders, parties, environmentalists and authorities they will investigate what happened.

The controversy jumped after some of the 16 Spanish hunters who took part in the hunt released images posing with the corpses of around 540 animals, mostly deer and wild boar. According to local media, the hunt took place at the Torre de Bela de Azambuja farm, about 40 kilometers from Lisbon.

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The Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF, for its acronym in Portuguese), which oversees the hunting sector, said in a statement that it had no prior knowledge of hunting, which has took place in an area classified as “Tourist hunting area”.

This concession provides for “the exploitation of deer and wild boar”, also by hunting, but due to the high number of animals which were said to have been killed, the ICNF initiated a process to find out whether the law in force was violated.

The Minister of Environment and Climate Action, Joao Pedro Matos Fernández, described the hunt as “vile and unacceptable” act and said he was convinced that they had committed an “environmental crime”, he will therefore send a complaint to the public prosecutor to investigate the existence of the crime “against the preservation of wildlife among owners, organizers and hunters” .

Azambuja Municipality said it has not received any official information on hunting, which does not require municipal authorization, and has asked ICNF and the Ministry of Agriculture to check if it is ‘was an illegal act.

The hunt was criticized by the local mayor, Silvino Lúcio, through a statement by the municipal socialist group in which he denounced that it was a “massacre” and an “environmental crime“. He also pointed out that the farm where the it’s closed, For what “The animals had nowhere to flee”.

The indignation was also joined by the animal party PAN – 3 deputies in Parliament -, which called it a “vile massacre” and assured that it would hold the competent authorities responsible. In addition, he recalled in his press release that in the area where the hunting was carried out, a 765 hectare photovoltaic plant is planned to be installed and that the environmental impact study of the project is currently in the public consultation phase.

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Also adding to criticism, Bloco de Esquerda MP Nelson Peralta, who wrote on his official Twitter profile that “to claim that this massive reduction is to maintain ecological balance and hunting is an insult”.

The massacre also provoked complaints from local hunting associations. “This is not hunting, it is a massive killing of confined animals. It makes no sense “, Told the news Nelson Cadavez, president of the Monteiros do Norte Club Newspaper. His Spanish counterpart from the Extremadura Hunting Federation (one of the most important in Spain), José María Gallardo, declared to the newspaper The world that the hunters who took part in the hunt in Portugal “give a false and distorted image of what hunting and hunters represent today”.