Greek court bans hunting to protect wildlife after summer's fires.
ATHENS (AFP) — A Greek court has imposed a temporary hunting ban throughout the country to protect wildlife following last summer's devastating fires, a judicial source said Saturday.
Greece's highest administrative court on Friday imposed the temporary ban until November 21, when a definitive ruling on the issue is expected to be handed down, the source said.
The ban was issued after a Greek environmental group asked the court to overturn the ministry of agriculture's decision authorising hunting from August 2007 through February 2008, which is the usual hunting season.
The group argued that the fires had led to the disappearance of hundreds of species, and that hunting should be banned to "protect wildlife trying to survive".
Fires in Greece last summer killed 67 people and ravaged nearly 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) of land, much of it forested. The worst hit regions were the Peloponnese peninsula and on the Aegean island of Euboea.
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