Hi all,

The following is the wording of a petition we received from the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation.

Please take a few moments to read it and then cut and paste this link into your browser to visit and sign the petition;

http://en.forthenature.org/petitions/say_no_to_the_changes_in_the_hunting_and_game_protection_act

Let’s say NO to the changes in the Hunting and Game Protection Act and the prolonging of the waterfowl birds hunting season!

To:

The President of the Republic of Bulgaria press@president.bg
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria primeminister@government.bg
The Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria Priemna@parliament.bg
The Chairman of the State Forest Agency syurukov@dag.bg
The Agriculture and Forest Commission of the Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria infocenter@parliament.bg
The Commission on Environment and Water of the Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria env422@nt52.parliament.bg
The Anticorruption Commission of the Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria anticorruption@parliament.bg
The Commission on Prevention and Combating Corruption at the Council of Ministers anticorruption@government.bg
The Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria n.markov@prb.bg
The Parliament Members of the Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria

The European Commission
The GD Environment of the European Commission stavros.dimas@ec.europa.eu


Dear Ladies and Gentleman,

I am seriously concerned that the proposed bill for changes of the Hunting and Game Protection Act, which have been developed in complete lack of transparency and without any public participation, do break the established principles of sustainable use of the game recourses, thus creating environment of corruption and non-democratic practices.

I insist strongly that the Bulgarian Parliament sends back this bill for revision to the respective Commission!

I strongly recommend that a new bill is developed by a task force involving experts of all stakeholders and keeping up with the principles of complete transparency. I believe that a bill developed by such a group would not allow for:
1. Prolonging of the hunting season for waterfowl birds from January 31st to February 29th, which represents a serious breach of the Birds Directive, the national Biodiversity Act, as well as of the Bern and Bonn Conventions ratified by the Republic of Bulgaria;
2. Hidden privatization of the state game breeding stations in the form of concluding contracts for joint management and the unprofitable leasing of the state hunting grounds;
3. Providing exclusive rights to a single hunting organization placing it above all other hunting and nature conservation organizations working for the protection and management of the Bulgarian wildlife in complete discrepancy with the democratic and the non-discrimination principles.

With this letter, I would like to urge you to support actively the elaboration of an adequate and contemporary Hunting Act that meets the expectations of the Bulgarian society!

Thank you for taking the time to show your support for this very worthwhile cause.

Mike.

Jerry's birthday party

Yesterday was Jerry's birthday so we had a celebration at the local bar, with a mix of Brits and Bulgarian neighbours. Yummy! Chocolate cake and lager is a wonderful combination. Here's a pic of the birthday girl and another of the motley crew.

Mnogo Gosti

Meanwhile we've been very busy with the guesthouse, aside from all the paying punters who've been here this spring and summer from all over the world, we've also had a few friends and family visit. My brother John and his partner Connie were here for an all too brief few days.Here we are at Fred's place in Shabla and later at Kamen Bryag.
















Then our Bulgarian friends Toni and Galia who live in Spain came to visit with Galia's sister and their lovely kids. I hope you like the pic of Toni posing as The Hulk. The melons came courtesy of our neighbours Vasil and Ginka..sweet sweet sweet.