Hunting Management

Hunting can be considered the second human activity that mankind has adopted to his activities after mastering the collection and picking of plants and fruits, where the people started wild hunting. In the beginning, individuals used primitive hunting methods such as sticks and stones, then moved to use an arrow and a spear as a hunting gear, and then to resort to setting traps for this purpose, and continued to invent new and various means for hunting and tracking (nets, glue, decoys, deception methods and ultimately guns and firearms). However, man was not satisfied with only using terrestrial hunting, so he started fishing from fresh and salty water to sustain himself and his family and community. However, this activity has extended beyond the daily need to start on using large and sweeping methods of fishing and non-selective tools that started to disturb the environmental balance if not properly monitored.

It should be noted that hunting continued in a sustainable way until the late of the eighteenth century to ensure that such natural resources that can be relied on for its food and securing the human necessities of food, accompanied by the rapid development of agricultural activity and the domestication of animals.

However, with the rapid development of hunting and fishing methods and the advancement of transportation vehicles and with the increasing of human population, hunting has become one of the biggest threats to the survival of wild species of birds and animals. The goal of hunting is no longer to sustain the physical needs of human, but has become mostly a sport or a shooting activity for recreation and showing off as a kind of luxurious indication without taking into account species conservation, ecological balance, or animal welfare. Although there are laws governing and regulating wild hunting in most countries of the world, the level of enforcement varies a lot from strict implementation such as some European Countries to others with minimum levels of implementation, especially those countries in the third world and poor countries or those lack stability.

Hunting in Syria:

The history and development of hunting activity in Syria did not differ significantly from other parts of the world, but hunting took a significantly and increasing trend since the 1960s. This was mainly due to the rapid development of hunting tools and the lack of a viable mechanism to regulate this activity. Hunting law that regulates this activity was issued in 1970; nevertheless, it is now in urgent need of modernization and development. The Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife (SSCW) has endeavored to work on it seriously by providing its expertise as needed for the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (MAAR) in cooperation with other relevant national authorities such as the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment (MoLAE) and Ministry of Interior Affairs and Ministry of Justice for more than ten years. However, the situation of the Syrian crisis has impacted this process by changing priorities and keeping law updating off track and work priorities at the national level. The Society is represented within the Higher Council for Hunting (HCH) and it is proud to be an active member of the aforementioned law modernization committee preparing itself for a serious contribution and a positive role in the future implementation of the updated law in the near future.