Marmot hunting ban fails
Two or three decades ago, marmots used to be found everywhere across the country. Before 1990, marmots were hunted under strict state control for a limited time in the fall for skin and fur, but since the beginning of 1990s, markets for marmot skins flourished everywhere in Mongolia, especially in areas along Mongolian borders with Russia and China, and marmot skin smuggling was a famously profitable business in Mongolia.
Since that time, the marmot population dramatically reduced year by year. By some estimates before 1990, the marmot population was nearly 15 million, but according to a report conduced in 2001, the marmot population dropped threefolds.
Environment ministers imposed bans on hunting marmot in 2005, 2006 and 2014 to address the dwindling population of marmots.
As a result of state and private sector’s attempts to increase the marmot population by relocating a number of marmots to new safe areas, the marmot populations in Khentii, Sukhbaatar and Bayankhongor provinces have been rising.
In September last year, former Minister of Environment and Tourism D.Oyunkhorol issued a new ban on hunting marmot for three years, but a lot of people hanging out for picnic throughout the country ignore this ban.
Since September 2017, law enforcement authorities uncovered 89 marmot hunting violations, and seized more than 300 dead marmots from hunters. People today hunt marmots for a special dish called, boodog, which is cooked with hot stone inside the abdominal cavity of a deboned marmot.
Senior inspector of the General Agency for Specialized Inspection D.Sonin-Erdene said, “Marmot hunting violations in June and July of each year are notably fewer than the fall session, but the agency has detected a lot of violations throughout this June and July. For example, last week agency’s unit in Khentii Province seized 14 dead marmots, 26 traps for catching marmot, and five rifles from the province’s Delgerkhaan soum.
The inspector stated that last month the agency’s inspectors also detected two men hunting marmots, and selling game meat to people at tourist camps in Arkhangai Province.
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Ministry of Health, General Police Agency, General Agency for Specialized Inspection, National Center for Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, and Public Health Institute jointly work to enforce the minister’s ban on hunting marmot and to raise awareness about the importance of preventing unexpected diseases from marmot such as marmot plague, and these organizations take some measures on hunting marmot and combat illegal marmot hunting activities every year, but their works don’t bring results.
The Law on Misdemeanors, which entered into force on July 1, 2017, states that anyone who hunted, sold, bought and transported marmots are to be fined. In accordance to the law, an individual who is found guilty of marmot hunting will be fined 300,000 MNT, and an entity will be fined three million MNT.
Most recently, a man posted “Hunting a single marmot for 300,000 MNT is okay” on Facebook, which shows that a fine of 300,000 MNT is not high enough penalty for those violating the law, hence Parliament should tighten control and penalty of the ban.
Environmental compliance inspector of the General Agency for Specialized Inspection Ch.Nyamdavaa gave a short interview to Unuudur regarding marmot hunting.
What measures are being taken by the agency to combat marmot hunting?
To implement a ministerial ban on hunting marmot, the agency regularly inspects rural areas, especially in provinces where marmot hunting violations mostly occur, and submit guidelines for combating marmot hunting to government offices of all soums and provinces. As there are 137 soums of 17 provinces in Mongolia with higher risks of marmot plague, the agency intensifies its controls in these soums by collaborating with the soums’ environment inspectors. The agency also cooperates with media outlets to raise public awareness about preventing marmot plague.
During picnic season in the summer, the number of marmot hunting violations dramatically increases. How many violations have law enforcement authorities detected recently?
As a result of several major inspections, officials of the law enforcement agencies detected a number of violations. For instance, they seized 14 hunted marmots from Khentii Province, 16 marmots in Arkhangai Province, 12 in Uvurkhangai Province, 26 traps, 16 rifles, and fined 2.1 million MNT from individuals who hunted marmots. State authorities set fines of 5.1 million MNT to those who violated the ban. Inspectors and officials have no authority to arrest people hunting marmot, but only seize equipment for hunting marmots.
How often do marmot hunting violations occur around Ulaanbaatar?
It is rare. Inspectors and police officers work for 24-hours a day at checkpoints that control all movement from provinces to Ulaanbaatar because livestock infectious diseases are being spread in some provinces, and recently, the agency has not received yet information regarding a violation that occurred near Ulaanbaatar.