Bustards in Crimea. "Warm" welcome. Conference on infectious diseases in Crimea It’s sad, but the news of Crimea is reports of incidents

ANNOTATION

The article examines the current state of hunting resources of Galliformes in the Republic of Crimea. The resources of almost all species of this order are intensively used, with the exception of the gray partridge. Data on the number of pheasants do not reflect the real situation, since illegal hunting of this species during the hunting period for other species of game animals is practically not taken into account. This is also associated with poaching and snare fishing, which causes significant damage to the resource of this species.

ABSTRACT

The article discusses the current state of game resources Galliformes birds in the Republic of Crimea. Resources almost all species of this group are used intensively, with the exception of partridge. The number of pheasant does not reflect the real situation, as it isn't considered illegal extraction of this species during the period of hunting of other game animals. This is also due to illegal shooting and trapping of loops that causes significant damage to the resource of this species.

Relevance of robots. The fauna of game birds of the Republic of Crimea is diverse and consists of more than 65 species. Species diversity and abundance of species throughout the twentieth century changed under the influence of various factors, among which the leading place was occupied by human economic activity and direct persecution of birds (hunting). Human economic activity has led to changes in the habitat of animals (plowing of virgin steppes of the steppe part of the peninsula, deforestation in some areas of the steppe Crimea, watering and irrigation, forest planting work). These changes were negative for some species, but were often positive for others. Therefore, management of game bird resources is relevant in our time and contributes to the conservation and development of the bird fauna of the Republic of Crimea.

Goal of the work: determination of the current state of hunting resources of Galliformes in the Republic of Crimea.

Object of study are the resources of game birds of the Republic of Crimea.

Subject of research is the dynamics of the number of game bird resources in the Republic of Crimea.

Methods and materials: Materials regarding taxation, accounting for the production of game animals, biotechnology planning and economic organization were obtained from the Regional Public Organization “Crimean Republican Society of Hunters and Fishers” (ROO “KROOR”). Also used were materials from the on-farm landscaping of the Black Sea, Nizhnegorsk, Kerch, and Sovetskaya regional branches of the ROO "KROOR". When carrying out the work, traditional methods of working with documents from hunting farms were used, and their economic activities regarding the use of game bird resources were analyzed. Through excursions, a partial survey of the hunting grounds of the Republic of Crimea was carried out.

Results and discussion The formation of the game bird fauna occurred under the influence of changes in the structure and quality of hunting grounds as a result of plowing the steppes, hydro-reclamation, afforestation (planting shelterbelts in the steppe Crimea and forest planting work in the mountainous part of the peninsula), as well as acclimatization work (introduction of pheasant, partridge).

All species of Galliformes are valuable game birds, objects of sport or commercial hunting.

On the territory of Crimea from the order Galliformes live such species as: pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), gray partridge (Perdix perdix), quail (Coturnix coturnix ), chukar (Alectoris kakelik).

The nature of the presence of Galliformes on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula is presented in the table (Table 1).

Table 1.

The nature of the stay of Galliformes of Crimea

Among Galliformes there is no vagrant nature of stay. All species of Galliformes have several patterns of residence in Crimea (Table 1).

When analyzing the materials of the hunting equipment of the Kerch hunting farm, it turned out that in most of them the real number of animals is much lower than the calculated optimal one.

The number of Galliformes, namely partridge and pheasant, according to the regional public organization “Crimean Republican Society of Hunters and Fishers” is presented in Table 2.

Table 2.

Number at the beginning of the hunt (1) and removal (2)

Despite the favorable living conditions for pheasants, the actual number of pheasants is much lower than the estimated number. This result may be due to misuse of this species.

Resources of almost all types are used very intensively. In those few cases where a species is underexploited (for example, gray partridge), in some years favorable for breeding during periods of population waves, numbers may be significantly higher than estimated.

More clearly, the number of Galliformes according to the regional public organization “Crimean Republican Society of Hunters and Fishers” is presented in the figure (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Number at the beginning of the hunt and removal of Galliformes

In our opinion, gray partridge resources in Crimea are underutilized. We believe that optimizing the use of this species is one of the important areas in increasing the efficiency of hunting in the Republic.

Having information about the great interest of foreign hunters in hunting for “real wild” gray partridge, we can direct Crimean hunting farms to accept tourist hunters for hunting this species.

We believe that the data on the number of pheasants are inadequate to the real situation, since the illegal hunting of this species during the hunting period for turtledoves, waterfowl, gray partridge and brown hare is practically not taken into account. This is also associated with poaching and snare fishing, which causes significant damage to the resource of this species.

Thus, the seizure in different years is: for gray partridge - 3-45%; pheasant – 2.6-14.9%. However, statistical information does not always inspire confidence. According to our observations, the accounting of harvested gray partridge and pheasant is carried out only partially; a significant part of the birds killed is not counted.

1. Gerasimov Yu.A. Huntsman's Handbook / Yu.A. Gerasimov. M.: Mysl, 1988. 458 p.
2. Dementyev V.I. Fundamentals of game management / V.I. Dementyev. M.: Timber Industry, 1971. 229 p.
3. Red Book of the Republic of Crimea. Animals / S.P. Ivanov, A.V. Fateryga. Simferopol: IT ARIAL LLC, 2015. 440 p.
4. Official website of the “Crimean Republican Society of Hunters and Fishers” [Electronic resource] – Access mode: http://www.huntincrimea.com Date of access: 01/15/2017
5. Federal Law “On Hunting and on the Conservation of Hunting Resources and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” dated July 24, 2009 N 209-FZ. [Electronic resource] – Access mode: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_89923. Date of access: 01/15/2017

There are currently nine poultry enterprises operating in Crimea. Among them are several large ones - “Friendship of Peoples-Nova” or the “Partizan” poultry farm, which are already decades old. There are also young ones, for example, Agro Eva Akuna Matata, which opened in 2014 in the Razdolnensky district. Interest in the poultry farming complex is also growing among investors. For example, the Black Sea Agro-Industrial Company announced plans to build a poultry complex with a capacity of 50 thousand tons of meat per year in the Sovetsky district within four years, which will be part of a multifunctional meat cluster (poultry farming, pig farming and cattle). Its construction will begin at the end of this year.

Investors' interest in poultry production in Crimea is understandable. Firstly, chicken remains the most popular product among buyers due to its low price compared to pork, beef and lamb. In 2010-2014, the share of its sales in the region in the meat group averaged 69.8 percent. Secondly, due to the blockade by Ukraine, a niche has become vacant in the Crimean food market, previously densely occupied by Ukrainian chicken. But, despite all the advantages, local poultry farmers are not particularly optimistic.

Director of the Agro Eva Akuna Matata enterprise Yashar Nazir Ogly Babayev says that the most difficult period over the past two years was the blackout period.

There wasn’t enough electricity, fans and waterers didn’t work, so the population had to be reduced to zero,” he says. - When the situation with the power supply improved, a state of emergency was declared in our area due to African swine fever, and for two months we could not take out a single bird for sale and could not obtain a single kilogram of feed. As a result, they suffered heavy losses.

Now an investor who has invested a million dollars in creating a poultry farming enterprise for 950 thousand birds per year is forced to rent out part of the production buildings to compensate for losses.

Five of the eight buildings were leased to another enterprise from the east of the peninsula, which, I think, will raise about 400 thousand birds per year,” he continues. - We also plan to have a small number of poultry on the remaining areas in the third or fourth quarter. Let's see how we can develop further.

Switched to eggs

There are other problems at the Partizan poultry farm in the Simferopol region.

On our farm last year there were 280 thousand heads of poultry, now we have reached 300 thousand, of which 40 are breeding birds,” said Petr Kalyn, chairman of the supervisory board of the Partizan poultry farm. - Compared to the Ukrainian period, the demand for products has increased significantly. Then they worked mainly for the local food market, and in 2016 they began selling breeding eggs to the Russian mainland - applications are constantly coming in. In four months, about 3.5 million hatching eggs were sold. In addition, we satisfy the needs of local producers - over the past two months we have sold them about 400 thousand eggs.

This direction is now the most promising for the manufacturer. But they are in no hurry to build global development plans for the economy.

We are not planning to increase the poultry population yet,” he continues. - We work from our own feed base, buying only proteins, microadditives and vaccines. It’s good that there have been rains in Crimea for the last two years, but if the year turns out to be dry, what will we feed the birds and animals?!

Spoiled my appetite

Feed is one of the main problems of Crimean poultry producers. They are not produced in industrial quantities on the peninsula, and importing them from the mainland is expensive.

We brought food from the Krasnodar Territory and Kabardino-Balkaria, spending five rubles on delivery of each kilogram,” says Yashar Nazir Ogly Babaev. - For comparison, delivery of feed from Ukraine cost 50 kopecks per kilogram. Taking into account these expenses, the cost of Russian feed is 28-30 rubles per kilogram, and Ukrainian feed was 16-17.

To develop poultry farming in Crimea, it is necessary to take a comprehensive approach to solving the problem, to establish the production of feed, meat and bone meal, which is necessarily included in the diet, says Alexander Lebedev, founder of the association “Union of Farmers, Agricultural Cooperatives, Private Farms and Rural Green Tourism Subjects of Crimea.” - If there is no meat and bone meal, the bird, during active reproduction, very quickly begins to get sick. But in Crimea there is not only its production, but even certified slaughterhouses where it would be possible to open a waste processing workshop.

Creating your own feed production is now problematic for Crimea, because for this you need to grow raw materials. One of the main components of the feed is corn, which requires good watering, which Crimea cannot yet afford.

The feed should contain about 20 percent corn, another five percent soybeans, which we don’t grow now due to lack of irrigation,” he continues. - Soybeans require 600-800 tons of water per hectare, and up to 18 such irrigations per year.

Last year, the State Water Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan supplied only eight million cubic meters of water for irrigation of agricultural crops, plus 5.4 million were taken from local sources, thanks to which only six percent of the crops of industrial crops were irrigated. Currently, it is planned to allocate 21.8 million cubic meters of water for irrigation, which is also negligible. For comparison, until 2014, about 700 million cubic meters of water were used from the North Crimean Canal for irrigation, of which 500 million were used for rice paddies.

The costs of delivering feed and equipment for poultry production are included in the cost of production, depriving the manufacturer of part of the profit. At the same time, you cannot increase the selling price of your product much due to fierce competition.

To get a small profit for development, chicken needs to be sold for 150-170 rubles per kilogram, and it is brought from the mainland for 95-102 rubles, says Yashar Nazir Ogly Babayev. - Local meat is better in quality, but for most consumers the low price is more important. So it is cheaper to import a product to Crimea from the mainland than to produce it here.

Small Crimean farms are not able to compete with producers from the mainland, because most of them have Soviet-era technologies that are outdated and energy-consuming,” says Alexander Lebedev. - Creating a modern farm with equipment for producing feed will cost tens of millions, which most producers do not have. Under the program of state support for the modernization of agricultural production, you can get 20 million rubles, but for this you need to contribute eight of your own. Where can I get them? Therefore, the cost of our products is higher than those imported from the mainland - even taking into account their delivery to Crimea.

So it turns out that on the shelves of Crimea you can find chicken from the most distant regions of Russia. And it costs no more than the Crimean one produced in the neighboring region.

For a very long time I wanted to see a bustard up close. And although my wish was destined to come true, who knew that I would not be happy about this meeting. Because this bustard was doomed. But first things first.

Photo by V. Kucherenko

About a week ago there was heavy fog, wind and snow in Crimea. These weather conditions prompted Sergei Prokopenko And Vladimir Kucherenko I got the idea to go check out the power lines on the Kerch Peninsula. What happened next in Vladimir Kucherenko’s short report:

Many publications have been written about the negative impact of power lines on birds, including on the situation in Crimea. The result of these publications has always been the same conclusion: it is necessary to equip power lines with bird protection devices in order to prevent both damage to birds from collisions with wires and electric shock to birds. However, no efforts have been made in this direction so far. Meanwhile, the network of overhead power lines in Crimea is becoming denser and denser.

To assess the current situation, on January 19, 2017, we examined some lines in the southern part of the Kerch Peninsula. On the eve of the expedition, a strong east wind blew, accompanied by light precipitation at a temperature of 0-3°C. With such winds, the maneuverability of birds is greatly reduced, and given this, they try to fly less. However, in the event of an alarm, they have to rise into the air, which can lead to a collision with wires. As is known, on the Kerch Peninsula, bustards suffer more than other birds from collisions with power lines, the number of which increases here in winter due to the arrival of birds from other areas for wintering. Since the bustard is a globally threatened bird species, monitoring wintering conditions of birds is very important for understanding bird conservation options.

As a result, we examined about 30 km of power lines, of which 27 km are lines with a capacity of 35-110 kW, and 3 km are 6-10 kW.
The results of the trip were disappointing. In total, the remains of 17 bustards were found. Judging by the state of preservation of the remains found, we assume that all the birds crashed over the past six months (*). One of the bustards turned out to be alive, but her injuries were incompatible with life: a cut at the level of the crop, paralysis of the legs. Of the remains found, 15 were under wires of 35-110 kW, and 2 were under 6-10 kW, so low-power lines are dangerous not only due to electric shock, but also due to the possibility of collisions. And given that the network of low-power lines is much larger than high-voltage ones, the situation can be catastrophic for bustards.

(*) - here the opinions of Sergei and Volodya were divided. Sergei believes that these remains are bustards from the last month and a half. In half a year there would be no trace left of the feathers. But be that as it may, the results from any of the opinions do not become more optimistic.

Basically, the remains of bustards looked like this. Photo by V. Kucherenko

17 bustards!!! It seems to me that poachers cause less harm.

Below the spoiler is a short video by Sergei Prokopenko of the doomed bustard. Poor bird.....

The bustard lived for a day. Attempts to somehow save her were useless.

For a very long time I wanted to see a bustard up close. And although my wish was destined to come true, who knew that I would not be happy about this meeting. Because this bustard was doomed. But first things first.

Photo by V. Kucherenko

About a week ago there was heavy fog, wind and snow in Crimea. These weather conditions prompted Sergei Prokopenko And Vladimir Kucherenko I got the idea to go check out the power lines on the Kerch Peninsula. What happened next in Vladimir Kucherenko’s short report:

Many publications have been written about the negative impact of power lines on birds, including on the situation in Crimea. The result of these publications has always been the same conclusion: it is necessary to equip power lines with bird protection devices in order to prevent both damage to birds from collisions with wires and electric shock to birds. However, no efforts have been made in this direction so far. Meanwhile, the network of overhead power lines in Crimea is becoming denser and denser.

To assess the current situation, on January 19, 2017, we examined some lines in the southern part of the Kerch Peninsula. On the eve of the expedition, a strong east wind blew, accompanied by light precipitation at a temperature of 0-3°C. With such winds, the maneuverability of birds is greatly reduced, and given this, they try to fly less. However, in the event of an alarm, they have to rise into the air, which can lead to a collision with wires. As is known, on the Kerch Peninsula, bustards suffer more than other birds from collisions with power lines, the number of which increases here in winter due to the arrival of birds from other areas for wintering. Since the bustard is a globally threatened bird species, monitoring wintering conditions of birds is very important for understanding bird conservation options.

As a result, we examined about 30 km of power lines, of which 27 km are lines with a capacity of 35-110 kW, and 3 km are 6-10 kW.
The results of the trip were disappointing. In total, the remains of 17 bustards were found, mostly feathers. Judging by the state of preservation of the remains found, we assume that all the birds crashed over the past six months. One of the bustards turned out to be alive, but her injuries were incompatible with life: a cut at the level of the crop, paralysis of the legs. Of the remains found, 15 were under wires of 35-110 kW, and 2 were under 6-10 kW, so low-power lines are dangerous not only due to electric shock, but also due to the possibility of collisions. And given that the network of low-power lines is much larger than high-voltage ones, the situation can be catastrophic for bustards.

Basically, the remains of bustards looked like this. Photo by V. Kucherenko

17 bustards!!! It seems to me that poachers cause less harm.

Below the spoiler is a short video by Sergei Prokopenko of the doomed bustard. Poor bird.....

The bustard lived for a day. Attempts to somehow save her were useless.