Prague, July 26 (CTK) – The Czech Agriculture Ministry wants to tighten conditions of the breeding of big cats in reaction to the recent cases of their escape from zoo-parks and slaughtering of tigers for commercial purposes, minister Miroslav Toman (Social Democrats, CSSD) told reporters on Thursday.
Moreover, the breedings enabling a direct contact with wild animals as well as walking out felines are to be banned, he added.
The ministry also wants to change the provision on the size of the space where big cats can be bred from a recommendation to an obligatory regulation.
Amateur breeders would be obliged to undergo a special course with practice, Toman said.
It is not possible to completely ban the breedings of carnivores outside zoos, though the public might wish this, since there would not be enough premises where to place these animals, Toman said.
However, various “zoo-corners” and farms that offer wild animals as pets to cuddle should be banned, he added.
The Environment Ministry has also reacted to the case of illegal slaughtering of tigers and banned the commercial export of tigers from the Czech Republic to the countries outside the EU as of Thursday.
The figures are small, 22 tigers were exported to these countries in the past ten years, Dominika Pospisilova, from the Environment Ministry press section said.
“In view of the reported unprecedented case of killing tigers and illegal trading in them, we in no case want to facilitate their export exactly to the countries with a demand for tiger products,” Environment Minister Richard Brabec (ANO) said, commenting on the ban, which took effect immediately.
The only exception is export to zoos where a good care for these animals is guaranteed.
The state also plans to tighten the register of both felines and bears, hyenas and similar wild animals as well as wolves and African wild dogs.
In the past few weeks, a puma ran away from a zoo-park in Zvole near Prague and two tigers and a lion escaped from their transport cages in the private Stit Biopark near Klamos village, east Bohemia.
The agriculture and environment ministries are to cooperate on the amendment to the law on animal protection from cruelty. Toman said it might take effect this autumn.
The ministries reacted to a police raid uncovering an unlawful handling of wild animals, mainly tigers.
The police and the customs officers recently found a dead body of a fresh-killed tiger, products made of tiger meat and organs and big cat skins during home searches in Bohemia. They also found a set of boiling vessels for the production of traditional Asian medicine products of tiger bodies and more than 1.8 million crowns on cash.
A week ago, a court remanded three suspects in the case in custody. One of them is Ludvik Berousek, from a famous Czech family of circus operators.
There are 49 pumas, 44 lions, 34 lynxes, 26 servals, 20 tigers, 15 ocelots and eight leopards in amateur breedings in the Czech Republic, according to the ministry’s data.
