After more than 25 years of ban, hunting authorized in Algeria

A hunter on the lookout during a boar hunt in Pietrosella on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, August 15, 2020. -

Algeria has announced the reopening of hunting on its territory after an interruption of more than two decades due to the civil war which bloodied the country during the black decade (1992-2002).

Hunting will resume from September 15 until February 15, Agriculture Minister Abdelhamid Hamdani said.

This reopening and the organization of the hunting activity are able to "contribute to the preservation of ecological and biological balance and natural resources, to fight against anarchic hunting as well as to the promotion of this activity and the consecration of its role in the development of the national economy ”, added Abdelhamid Hamdani.

5,000 permits issued

In the early 1990s, faced with raids by armed Islamist groups to steal the villagers of their hunting rifles in order to arm their maquis, the authorities decided to confiscate the weapons.

And the hunt was suspended.

There were then up to 50,000 wild boars hunted per year, 320 hunters' associations, 60,000 hunters (all types of hunting combined) and a million gun owners.

The suspension of hunting had led to the proliferation of wild boar in particular and the prefects had to issue exemptions to authorize beatings in order to curb the nuisance of this animal.

According to the Director General of Forests (DGF), Ali Mahmoudi, 5,000 hunting permits have been granted as part of the official reopening of this activity.

"We plan to issue 7,000 additional permits to other hunters," he said.

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