DutchNews, February 2, 2016
Junior economic affairs minister Martijn
van Dam is in talks with Dutch hunting organisations and provincial councils to
stop rich foreigners coming to the Netherlands to shoot geese.
At the end of
last year it emerged that an American company is offering specialised goose
hunting trips to the Netherlands, describing them as ‘one of the world’s best
hunting opportunities’.
Website GetDucks.com, says the Netherlands not only
offers ‘liberal’ shooting for an ‘enviable collectors list of species’ but an
‘immersive tour of this beautiful country that hunters and non-hunters will
each enjoy.’ According to the Leeuwarder Courant newspaper a five-day trip,
including luxury bed and breakfast accommodation, costs $4,600.
Legal
While it
is legal for foreigners to hunt in the Netherlands if they are the guest of
someone with a Dutch hunting licence, Van
Dam said in answer to MPs’ questions that he rejects the idea of commercial
duck hunts. So far, some 871 people have taken advantage of the legal option to
shoot geese and ducks in the Netherlands.
Shooting ducks and geese is only
acceptable if there is a concrete purpose such as removing a hazard to
aircraft, he said. He is now in talks with hunting groups and provinces to
tighten up the regulations.
In May, the European Commission gave the green
light to pest controllers to gas hundreds of thousands of geese throughout the
Netherlands. At present, geese can only be gassed within a 20 kilometre radius
of Schiphol airport because of the threat the birds pose to aircraft.
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