National Park in Odesa region accuses police of refusing to respond to report of jackal murder

Employees of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Police Department #2 did not register in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations the statement of the administration of the Tuzly Estuaries National Park about the fact of cruelty to animals.

This was stated by the acting director of the national park, Iryna Vykhrystyuk.

According to her, the management of the national park appealed to the police because of the murder of a jackal in the village of Tuzly, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district, on Mykhailivska Street. The animal was stabbed with a pitchfork and the corpse was dumped near the yard.

Iryna Vykhrystyuk assumed that the owner killed the predator fearing that it would attack his chickens.

"The killer did not think that he should have a chicken coop for his chickens and fences for all domestic animals. And if a bird or animal is outside a private yard, it is already game. The jackal did not enter the yard, it did not pose a threat to people or animals in the yard. But it was killed!" the environmentalist was outraged.

Iryna Vykhrystiuk also accused local police of systematically ignoring the facts of illegal hunting on the territory of the Danube Biosphere Reserve.

"For the police officers of the police station No. 2, there is only one animal - fish (you can review their proceedings to see for yourself). Neither domestic nor wild animals killed during illegal hunting on the territory of the Danube Biosphere Reserve, nor those killed in this way, are a violation. On the contrary, we have always seen police assistance to poachers. Last year, in the same village, the corpses of killed wild animals were simply thrown away, but by the time the police arrived, the corpses had disappeared, and so they did not record anything," the director of the national park said.

Meanwhile, local authorities in Odesa region regularly make statements that due to the ban on hunting during the war, the population of animals is growing and in some cases it poses a threat. For example, the growth of the wild boar population threatens to increase the risk of African swine fever in domestic pigs, and the growth of the predator population threatens to increase the number of rabies cases. For example, in the Rozdilnyansky district of Odesa region, in order to prevent the spread of rabies among wild carnivorous fur-bearing animals and African swine fever, hunting organizations were allowed to shoot foxes, wolves and other wild carnivores, as well as wild boars from November 8, 2025 to February 28, 2026.

Кирило Бойко