Government in favour of compensating farmers for damage caused by bison, lynx and bears
The Government supports the initiative of the previous Minister of Agriculture, Kazis Starkiewicz, to compensate farmers for the damage caused by bison to fields, brown bears to beehives or lynx to sheep, and other non-hunted wild animals.
The Cabinet of Ministers this week endorsed the positive conclusion of the Ministry of the Environment on the following amendments to the Laws on Hunting and on Wildlife, which are being debated in the Seimas.
The proposal is to improve them by specifying who could receive compensation for damage to wild animals and in what cases.
K. Starkevičius and several other MPs from the previous parliamentary term had proposed that compensation should be granted to vegetable, orchard and shrub growers, apiary owners and owners of farm animals.
The Ministry of the Environment proposes to extend the scope of persons eligible for compensation to include persons owning, managing or using land, forest or water bodies, as well as owners or keepers of farm animals.
However, farmers would receive the payments on one condition: that they also make efforts to protect themselves from damage caused by animals.
The initiators propose to look for funds to compensate for the damage in the Environmental Protection Support Programme.
The amendments, they argue, would encourage farmers to be more proactive in protecting their property.
According to the data of the State Service for Protected Areas, there were 69 bear sightings in 2018–2024. In addition, it is estimated that up to 150 lynx live in Lithuania.
According to the unofficial bear map of the Lithuanian Hunters and Fishermen's Society (LHFS), bears have been filmed 17 times in Lithuania this year, and their tracks or excrements have been recorded. Last year, bears or their signs were recorded 19 times.
Bison are also on the rise in Lithuania, with 308 counted in 2023 and 182 in 2016. The highest number in 2023 was recorded in the Kėdainiai District – 207. Due to the constant chasing of bison away from crops, the animals cross the "Via Baltica" highway and stray into Kaunas and Jonava districts.
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