450 shekels on the black market: Four hunters arrested moments before slaughtering a porcupine
After being arrested on suspicion of being members of a protection racket, the suspects were found with hunting equipment, porcupine meat, and a live young porcupine that was released back into the wild, "saved moments before the slaughter." A case was opened against all four for suspected illegal hunting of wildlife using prohibited methods and possession of protected natural values.
Four people were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of being members of a protection racket, but it turned out they were porcupine hunters. Israel Nature and Parks Authority inspectors were called to the scene and found hunting equipment, porcupine meat, and a live young porcupine that was on its way to be slaughtered. After a brief check in the field showing that the porcupine was not injured, it was released back into the wild.
Israel Police received an indication of two ATVs moving inside avocado orchards near one of the Galilee settlements, on suspicion that they were protection racket criminals. After a few minutes of pursuit, the police managed to stop the ATVs, with one of them overturning into a ditch and the passengers trying to escape on foot.
During the arrest, it turned out that they were not a protection racket group at all, but a group of porcupine hunters. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority opened a case against the four for suspected illegal hunting of wildlife using prohibited methods and possession of protected natural values.
Natan Bainusovich, enforcement officer in the Northern District of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, said:
"The police saved the porcupine at the last moment, minutes before it too would have been slaughtered by the hunters. I thank the police teams for their alertness and the fruitful and ongoing cooperation in the fight against illegal hunting of wildlife. We will continue to act with all the tools available to us in order to fight those who seek to harm nature."
The case raises again the phenomenon of trade in the meat of the prickly animal, which is hunted against the law. In the black market for game meat in Israel, the price of a hunted porcupine reaches 450 shekels.
A porcupine is the largest rodent in Israel. It is a protected wild animal and it is forbidden to hunt it, but despite this, there are criminals who continue to hunt the animal and trade in its meat, partly because of superstitions linked to the properties of porcupine meat. Hunters often use dogs to track them or traps with fruit as bait.
The porcupine is a monogamous animal, and when one of the partners disappears, it severely affects the other. Superstitions have been linked to the porcupine, as its meat is falsely claimed to clean the kidneys and encourage fertility. This belief developed due to the sounds the porcupine makes, which resemble a baby's cry, and the similarity of its feet to a baby's foot.
A criminal convicted of hunting a porcupine was the first in Israel to be sentenced to actual imprisonment in 2009, receiving five months in prison. The case reached the Supreme Court, where Judge Salim Joubran wrote in his decision:
"There is room to be strict in sentencing regarding harm to animals, both wild and domestic. Cruelty and harm to animals, beyond the indirect harm it causes to humans, testifies to callousness and dullness of senses. We have a duty to be extra careful to minimize the pain caused by us, especially when it comes to those whose cries we find it difficult to hear, and who cannot stand up for their rights."
