The new weapons of the deer hunters - ATVs;

The judges move to harsher punishments

The Magistrate's Court in Tiberias this week handed down heavy prison sentences to two defendants in a deer hunt in Eretz Israel.

"I hope that the next hunter who intends to set out may be afraid of imprisonment and eventually decide to return to it."

Israel is the last place where the Israeli deer survives - and only about 5,000 deer remain

Eli Ashkenazi

17/12/2021

Friday, 17 December 2021, 20:19 Updated: Saturday, 18 December 2021, 20:19

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On a Saturday in mid-January 2016, a herd of deer grazed on a wheat field that began to turn green after the rains that saturated it, near Nahal Bezeq in the northern Jordan Valley, at the foot of the Gilboa.

The silence was suddenly violated by the noise of four ATV engines mounted by their drivers.

The herd of deer is common everywhere.

It is an animal whose speed and agility have become a symbol throughout the ages, but the ATV outweighs the lightness of the deer's legs;

It is a motorized and fast vehicle, with a high offense capacity.

The four ATV drivers rushed towards the deer and managed to reduce the distance to them, eventually the powers of one of the deer ran out and a driver of one of the ATVs hit her and ran her to death.

The driver and passenger with whom they turned and returned to the point of impact.

The two got off the ATV and buried a black sack between the bushes, on which weeds and fragments of branches were placed.

Inspectors from the Nature and Parks Authority who arrived at the scene located the disguised bag and inside it saw a deer corpse from Eretz Israel.

"The deer's hind leg was found broken and its neck was torn. The deer's body was still hot. When blood dripped from it, at the time of its detection, the deer was in advanced stages of pregnancy," the indictment filed against the hunters in the Tiberias Magistrate's Court said.

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Seven months ago the defendants were convicted of a hunting offense and in addition the court ruled that the hunting offense in the circumstances in which it was committed amounted to an offense of abuse and cruelty to an animal.

Tiberias Magistrate's Court Judge Nir Mishori Lev-Tov sentenced two of the defendants, residents of the city of Taibeh, to heavy prison sentences this week;

Khaled Azzam was sentenced to 20 months in prison and fined NIS 10,000.

It turns out that the defendant's past in the field of hunting is a very burdensome past - a year earlier he had already been caught after a deer hunter from Eretz Israel, after chasing him with a "razor" and shooting him to death.

While a criminal proceeding was being conducted against him, he was caught with a knife covered in blood.

His friend, Sahir Matsarawa, sentenced Mishori Lev-Tov to six months in prison and a fine of NIS 15,000.

Eretz Israel deer (Photo: Nature and Parks Authority, Efi Cohen)

On the same day, another case of a deer hunting defendant arrived at Judge Mishori Lev-Tov's courtroom. The sentence imposed on the defendant - eight months of actual imprisonment, to be run in service jobs. In the past, the courts have contented themselves with lighter sentences with those who have gone through the field of hunting is not onerous. Defendant was previously convicted of possession of a protected wild animal, which amounted to possession of a feather of a partridge, as well as possession of a weapon in a vehicle outside the holster.

The sentences handed down this week in the Magistrate's Court in Tiberias continue to outline a penalty line that gives a special place to Eretz Israel deer hunters. The Eretz Israel deer has almost disappeared from the wild. Israel is the last place he survived. These are only 5,000 deer. "It's about population size stability," explained Liad Ling, the Nature and Parks Authority's Northern District Enforcement Officer. "But stability is not enough. If you do not increase the number, it is a problem," he clarified.

An actual prison sentence handed down three years ago by the Nazareth District Magistrate's Court to two Border Police volunteers who were caught hunting deer is a milestone in the punishment. Of deer, should be given a more tangible expression in punishment, because in such a case, the potential risk to the deer population is greater, "they determined at the time. "Those that have been imposed so far have not eradicated the phenomenon, the higher continuum of the compound should be reflected in imprisonment behind bars," they stated and outlined the way.

"Professionals and highly skilled" (Photo: Photo Processing, Eyal Ben Giat Nature and Parks Authority)

Of course, hunters are not the only enemy of the Eretz Israel deer. Natural predators also love it and their numbers are rising in the face of aid that man provides them in the form of pirate landfills and the dumping of animal carcasses near settlements. Reducing living spaces and increasing vehicle traffic puts deer at risk of trampling. As mentioned, the hunters who harnessed ATVs in their favor, in addition to rifles, exacerbated the hardship faced by the deer.

"The violation of the protected value stems from both the use of high-speed ATVs as a weapon for everything and the killing of a large animal that is protected by law and is in danger of extinction," Judge Mishori Lev-Tov clarified. He also explained the deer's difficulty in dealing with the new vehicle that serves the offenders: "An animal escape, of the deer type, from a motorized vehicle, is not like running during a crazy escape. "In the first place in relation to his chances of developing a multi-systemic disease characterized by damage to the skeletal muscle and the heart that accompanies the violation of the physiological balance," the judge wrote.

Ling describes the hunters as "professionals and highly skilled." The fight against hunters is led by a small number of inspectors from the Nature and Parks Authority. They are required to dominate a large area and are prohibited from pursuing suspects who, as mentioned, are assisted by agile vehicles and with the ability to evade quickly.

The price of a slaughtered deer reaches NIS 3,000 (Photo: screenshot, Wikipedia)

In the unofficial price list of the black market for game meat, the price of a slaughtered deer can reach NIS 3,000, but Ling clarifies that the financial benefit is not the thing that guides the hunters.

"These are people for whom the hunter is part of a culture, the very pursuit of the animal and its killing, is their goal. The very fact that they use 'razors' worth tens of thousands of shekels, indicates that they do not lack money."

Defendant Azzam illustrated in his statements in court his love of hunting.

He said that "he was born to a hunter father and a hunter grandfather with a firearms license and David who was a hunter. He was a child in this field. Explained to the judge.

The court identified more with the plight of the Eretz Israel deer and the difficulty of dealing with the hunter's disease.

"Given the large areas where the protected wildlife is located and where the illegal poachers operate - these make it difficult to identify the perpetrators and gather direct evidence to commit the offenses, so the authority is often required to gather circumstantial evidence - a fact that makes it difficult to prosecute and convict." "The chances of locating the criminals and bringing them to justice are not high and encourage the commission of offenses under the Wildlife Protection Law," he stated.

Endangered Data (Photo: Michael Naveh)

"It is not disputed today that in the case of wildlife in Israel, and in particular the Eretz Israel deer, the wildlife population in the State of Israel is in real danger of extinction, and that quite a few species have already become extinct or are in danger of extinction," the judge ruled.

He said, "The main danger of extinction is due to illegal hunters harming indiscriminately, without measure and without supervision of the various wild animals. The loss of various species, some of which are typical and even unique to this region. "

It is clear to Ling that even in these moments there may be those who are plotting to go on a hunt for deer in the Yavneel Valley or in the Sirin and Issachar plains.

He knows that the struggle to save the lives of the deer will not stop.

"I just hope that the next hunter who intends to set out may be afraid of a prison sentence and eventually decide to go back on it," he said.

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