Paros: call for hunting ban after fire

Animal protection organizations active on Paros are requesting a temporary hunting ban across the entire island for one year in a joint letter to the competent authorities, made public on Tuesday 11 August. The request follows a fire that recently struck significant areas of Paros.

The request is timed with the imminent opening of the 2026-2027 hunting season on 20 August, the nationwide date for the first game. Secondarily, the organizations are seeking a hunting ban in the fire-affected zone and surrounding areas for five years, as well as intensification of controls to prevent illegal hunting.

The rationale developed in the letter focuses on the condition of habitats after the fire. As stated, the fire destroyed areas that served as refuge and food source for wildlife on the island, while the animals that survived face shortages of food, water and safe shelter.

A second argument concerns the geographical scope of the measure. Since wildlife populations have moved to adjacent, unburned areas in search of food and water, the protection should not, according to the organizations, be limited only to burned areas, but should cover the entire island for at least one period. Otherwise, as stated, hunting pressure will concentrate precisely in the areas where animals that survived the fire have taken refuge.

The full text of the request has been made public. Its conclusion summarizes the logic of the intervention: “The fire may have gone out. But life needs protection to be reborn.” The report does not name the individual organizations that co-sign the text, and there has been no public statement so far from hunting clubs in the region or the Hunting Federation, which in corresponding cases have argued that bans should be targeted and based on scientific data for prey populations.

Decisions on hunting bans after fires are usually issued by forest authorities and may affect either specific burned areas or broader zones, depending on the extent of destruction and the assessment of impact on populations. So far there has been no relevant announcement from the competent services for Paros. The process requires a proposal from the local forest authority and issuance of a decision, while the duration of the ban is determined based on the assessment of the time needed for vegetation and wildlife populations to recover.

The Paros fire has already triggered a series of mobilizations and institutional interventions on the island. Following the event, organizations held a rally, while the municipality had requested the declaration of emergency status. More news from Paros on the dedicated page.