Documentary on Illegal Hunting

Filmmaker and producer Mehdi Davari is making a documentary on illegal hunting.

In his film Davari explores the conflict between environmental protectors and illegal poachers, Young Journalists Club (YJC) reported.

The film is titled ‘Wound’ (in Persian: ‘Zakhm’). The shooting sessions are over and the film is being edited.

The 15-minute documentary is planned to be unveiled at the 11th Cinema Verite, also know as 2017 Iran International Documentary Film Festival, to be held in Tehran later this year.

Illegal hunting and criminal activities by poachers is in the news of late with reports of the murder of park rangers and arrests of several poachers for killing endangered species such as chukar partridge and mouflon.

So far, 119 Iranian park rangers have lost their lives in the line of duty, compelling both environmental officials and activists to demand better legal protection for them.

Poachers, who usually outnumber the rangers have enough time to get rid of any incriminating evidence, and since there is nobody at the scene to support the rangers’ claims, court rulings in most cases allow illegal hunters to get away scot-free.

At least 74 species of Iranian wildlife are on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a sign of serious threats against the country’s biodiversity.