However, these cases do not cease to have their peculiarity, both for the victim and for the perpetrator. Many times the medical costs are high and either the perpetrator or the victim has serious financial difficulties in paying them. In fact, the risk is quite high during the first hunting expeditions of the endemic hunt, where in the mountains of Cyprus are at the same time more than 40 thousand hunters.
A hunter, through the exchange of letters with the Ministry of Interior and the Hunting Service, raises the issue of compulsory hunting insurance when issuing or renewing a hunting license. He even cites examples of typical cases of hunter injuries.
According to the exchange of letters, there is relevant legislation for the insurance of hunters, but it remains inactive as there will be a relevant decision of the Council of Ministers to implement it.
According to a reply letter from the Head of the Hunting Service, Pantelis Hatzigerou, to Mr. Symeon Karmios, after a relevant letter of the latter to the Minister of Interior in which he touched on the issue of lack of hunter insurance, Mr. Hatzigerou notes that in the Protection and Wild Birds and Hunting Law Management, includes provision for hunting insurance against a third party (Article 38).
"However, the above provision of the legislation has not been implemented in accordance with the provisions of Article 100, which states that Article 38 may be implemented after a relevant decision of the Council of Ministers," said Mr. Hatzigerou.
Something that has certainly never happened before. In fact, the reply letter states that "the whole issue is considered very important by our Service and will soon be a topic of discussion with KOK-DAZ".
However, despite the fact that the new Hunting Charter for the hunting season 2015-2016 has already been determined and the renewal of hunting licenses has begun, there has been no relevant provision for the implementation of the legislation.
Necessity of compulsory insurance
In a letter, Mr. Karmios notes the need for compulsory insurance for hunters.
"I would like to inform you of the most serious problems created by the lack of legislation on compulsory insurance for hunters. There is passed legislation on compulsory insurance against a third party, but the legislation itself sets a condition for its activation by the decision of the Council of Ministers, which obviously never happened ", he notes.
"Of course, having insurance against a third party alone is not enough. In one of the two cases of serious injuries to well-known hunters by other hunters, in one of the two cases, the person who shot and injured the victim disappeared. In this case, the insurance should cover the hunter himself, either due to the abandonment of the scene by the shooter or due to self-injury ", he states characteristically.
The example of other countries
As Mr. Karmios states in his letter, in Germany insurance is mandatory and the minimum coverage for 2008 was 50.000 euros for property damage and 50.000 euros in cases of bodily injury.
"Maybe now there are more," he said. "In the United Kingdom, it was not mandatory, probably because there is no state land. But most pharmacists, in order to give you permission to hunt on their land, require insurance. "
He also notes that in Cyprus we have a lot of injuries every year. A bullet in the eye can cause blindness and the cost of treatment in specialized centers is huge.
"Unfortunately, the renewal of permits has begun and there is no reason for the compulsory insurance of hunters. The insurance offered by some insurance companies is for a third party and the amounts are ridiculous in the face of medical costs. Also, the medical coverage for the insurer, if injured by someone else who does not have insurance, is less than 1.000 euros. That is, even if I do the security, the one that exists in the market, I will not have medical coverage (except for the 1.000 euros), if the one who injured me did not do the security. And unfortunately most hunters do not do security, as it is not mandatory. "
Concluding, Mr. Karmios points out that the state should make it mandatory to insure hunters for the issuance of a hunting license.
"We in Cyprus need it more than any other country, because the number of injuries is very high every year. The Ministry of the Interior should also do so for statistical purposes, but also for some dangerous hunters to know that if they are not careful, they will have consequences such as a possible increase in the premium, but also the removal of the license ".
Source: Liberal