Closed season regulation: litmus test for the rule of law in Salzburg

Four species of birds may be hunted in Salzburg during the breeding season. This not only violates EU law, but also the Salzburg Hunting Act and is therefore unconstitutional. An amendment, the assessment of which ends today, is not intended to eliminate these illegalities, but rather to add a new one: the hunting of the golden jackal without a favorable conservation status. The referendum for a federal hunting law calls on the black-blue state government to return to the rule of law.

As a protected species, the golden jackal can be hunted provided that the species is in a favorable conservation status in Austria and that there is monitoring of the conservation status. Neither is the case, which is also clear from the explanations to the draft regulation. Just two months ago, the European Court of Justice again stated: “A species may therefore not be used or hunted for purposes of hunting if effective monitoring of its conservation status is not ensured.”

„The ECJ cannot formulate it more clearly and the state government still doesn’t understand it? Very unlikely – this is much more likely to be a planned intentional violation of the law. Mr. Governor Haslinger, please remember your statesmanship and stamp this draft“, appeals Rudolf Winkelmayer, representative of the referendum “For a Federal Hunting Law”.

There is an actual need for amendment where the closed season regulation contradicts the Austrian Federal Constitution. State governments can only issue regulations on the basis of laws. However, the Salzburg Hunting Act clearly states that when determining closed seasons, the state government must ensure that migration and breeding seasons are included. Nevertheless, the closed season for the wood pigeon ends a month early, and that for the common dove almost three months early. This was already established 17 years ago (!) in a case before the ECJ! The reason for this was the regulations in Carinthia and Lower Austria – apparently reason enough for the Salzburg state government to ignore the result. Once again it shows what absurdities the state’s competence in hunting law leads to!

For the gray heron, the closed season begins a month late, for the cormorant it even starts three months late. This is all the more serious as the shooting times for these species, which are not inherently huntable, were sharpened by the – also illegal – bird shooting schedule regulation. “The Wild West seems to have broken out in Salzburg under FP State Councilor Svazek. What is urgently needed here is a call to order from Governor Haslauer, who hopefully has not sacrificed his political decency for a coalition with the FPÖ“, said Winkelmayer.

The referendum “For a Federal Hunting Law” formulated 14 principles that are to be implemented in a federal hunting law (https://bundesjagdgesetz.at/details.php). The initiative made up of AG Wild Animals, the Ecological Hunting Association, Animal Protection Austria and the Association Against Animal Factories is currently promoting declarations of support for the referendum, which all people eligible to vote in Austria can make at any district or municipal office and online around the clock using a cell phone signature.