site.btaBulgaria, Romania Are the Last Two Countries in the World Where Hunting with Birds of Prey Is Banned

Bulgaria and Romania are the last two countries in the world where hunting with birds of prey is banned, BTA learned from Anani Lyubenov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Falconry Union (BFU). He and several other members of the organization participated in the Days of the Romanian Hunter at the Dimitrie Gusty Village Museum in Bucharest, where they became the main attraction of the event. 

Lyubenov is a member of the Yorkshire Falconry Club, an honorary member of the Romanian Falconry Association and a delegate to the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF). Together with his fellow members of the BFU, he works for the development, preservation and resolution of bird of prey hunting in Bulgaria. 

For more than a decade, the Union has organized a traditional annual falconry festival and an international competition, but the activity that brings the most joy to Lyubenov and his team is a specially designed school programme that introduces school children to birds of prey and falconry. 

The Bulgarian Falconry Union has been cooperating with its Romanian counterpart for several years. “We are fighting for the resolution and preservation of falconry, a tradition of over 10,000 years, also recognized by UNESCO in 2010,” Lyubenov said.

This year, in addition to demonstrations, the Days of the Romanian Hunter included for the first time a bird of prey competition. “We do it mainly for the children. To teach them about the different species of birds of prey, about falconry, and leave a good memory,” the BFU Chairman explained.

“One of our favourite activities that we have been doing for over ten years is that we visit various educational institutions, kindergartens and schools to introduce children to falconry and birds of prey. We also educate hunters, we are members of the Bulgarian Hunting and Fishing Association. We are trying to bring back hunting with birds of prey in Bulgaria”. 

Unfortunately, the last two countries in the world where hunting with birds of prey is banned are Bulgaria and Romania. Lyubenov hopes this will change in time, because hunting with birds of prey is not actual hunting. “We just help the bird to survive in the wild when it hunts and it only really catches what it will eat. It's not like the other kind of hunting, it's a completely natural process in nature that you are an observer of. If anyone thinks we are infringing on the bird's freedom, we are not. Quite the opposite. We are protecting it from stress, starvation, disease. Proof of this is that birds of prey rarely live more than 10 years in the wild, whereas with falconers, people like us, birds are actively breeding, hunting, flying for 30-35, even 40 years,” he pointed out.