The lifeless bodies of his latest kills — two wild goats — elaborately laid side by side behind his 270 caliber Winchester are clearly visible in the pitch-black darkness of a cold January night. He wants everyone to remember the most recent victims of his hobby, especially those who are supposed to stop him.
The scene described above is from a video attributed to a poacher identified as Mr. Mirzakarimi, which was uploaded online on Thursday on ‘Shekargah 3121’, a page for avid hunters on the popular social media application Instagram, the Persian daily Shahrvand reported on Saturday.
Distinct voices of what are presumably the hunters are heard in the video, but no faces are shown. One poacher begins to explain the reason behind recording the gruesome footage.
“We came here to stand up to you,” the male voice says, taunting Mehrdad Norouzi, the head of the Department of Environment office in Boushkan County, Bushehr Province. “You’re all talk and no action. I’ve obliterated your district with my 270 Winchester, and recorded this video to show you my 98th kill.”
He continues to say that he wanted to kill the mouflons as well, “but felt sorry for them.”
The footage was reportedly recorded on January 20.
While Iranian hunters gloating about their hunting skills on the social media is not unheard of, this is the first known record of a poacher openly challenging authorities and goading officials into catching them.
DOE Response
With the video circulating online, the DOE has taken notice. Ali Teymouri, director of the Fishing and Hunting Office at the department, told Shahrvand that the DOE has taken measures to bring the culprits to justice.
“The local DOE office along with the law enforcement has been put on the case,” he said, adding that poachers that upload videos online are generally easy to track down.
The official said old videos are commonly shared online, many of which belong to poachers that have already been arrested, but was quick to add that the recent footage is new and no efforts will be spared to find and prosecute the hunters.
“In addition to paying hefty fines (which was recently raised), poachers must also serve between three months to three years in prison,” Teymouri said.
The wild goat is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a vulnerable species; as such, Iran has imposed a hunting ban on the endangered species. But clearly, the DOE is doing little to enforce the law.
They cannot be held entirely responsible though. The department is among the most understaffed government entities in the country with a meager budget.
