Poachers caught on CCTV brutally killing hares

Police are investigating shocking footage from CCTV that emerged on Friday capturing the brutal killing of hares bred at a licensed farm in Lymbia. The Cyprus hunters’ association filed an official complaint for the violation of the breeding facility and strongly condemned the crime.

Sigma news reported that at around midnight on Wednesday, poachers broke into the fenced-off farm and proceeded to kill sixteen hares by beating them on the ground.

The owner arrived the next morning to find his premises had been breached and then checked the CCTV footage which showed the animals being taken out of their cages and beaten to death. It is believed the aim was to ultimately sell them for meat.

Calling the perpetrators a “danger to society,” the hunter’s association requested an immediate investigation into the crime and for maximum punishment to be meted out to those responsible, further stating that “Our movement respects every form of life, and we condemn in the most unequivocal way this heinous act.”

The hunter’s organisation added that it supports the creation of hare-breeding farms whose animals are released into the wild six months before the start of the hunting season, so that the animals have a period of adaptation, and that the organisation values maintaining a balance of animal species and conservation.