Forestry Commission Bans Hunting From Tomorrow

By Seth Adu Agyei

The Forestry Commission (FC) has announced a ban on hunting and capturing of wild animals in the country beginning August 1 to December 1, 2019, which is the breeding period.

The ban referred to as the "Close Season" according to Mr John Allotey Deputy Chief Executive of the FC, was a measure adopted to allow the animals to breed and produce more.

The announcement was made by the Deputy Chief Executive at a media engagement at the Accra Zoo, in the Achimota forest yesterday.

He, therefore, called on the security agencies, chiefs and opinion leaders to support in enforcing the "Close Season" ban.

The Deputy Chief Executive said the close season was enshrined in the wildlife conservation regulation, L.I 685 of 1971, adding that during the period, hunting, capturing or destroying of any wildlife species was prohibited, and warned that offenders would be held liable.

Mr Allotey said Ghana was among other African countries who were poised to benefit from a period of economic growth through sustainable ecotourism boom, which depends much on the abundance of wildlife heritage.

He said, however, that current experience had shown that unsustainable utilisation of the natural resources had damaged the environment as well as productivity and the value of the wildlife assets.

Mr Allotey said the decline must be halted and the trend reversed for a sustainable environment, hence the Wildlife Division (WD) of the FC had appealed to hunters and dealers in the enterprise to temporarily stop their activities during this close season

On the facelift of the Accra Zoo, he said the WD had increased the number of cages at the Zoo, created ponds for the animals to survive, feeding and maintaining them, as well as adding to their numbers.

Mr Allotey indicated that current records showed that last year, about 35,000 people visited the Accra Zoo, and this year by the end of the first half, 25,000 people have already visited the zoo which he stated, was due to the introduction of the new lions and other species into the place.

He hoped that at the end of the year, more than 50,000 people would have visited the place, and called on the general public to visit the Accra Zoo to see the various animal species and enjoy their presence.

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