Romania started training courses for wildlife crime specialists

Fauna & Flora International, with the support of WWF Romania, organized the first two training sessions of the B6 activity for specialists in Romania. A total of 49 participants, namely prosecutors, judges, customs officers, police officers, gendarmes, Environmental Guard commissioners and representatives of the CITES management authority, attended the two trainings organized in Sarmizegetusa and Mahmudia on 12-14 October and 26-28 October 2022.

In addition to the presentation of the CITES Convention and the EU-TWIX database, issues related to the impact of crimes on ecosystems and species were also discussed. Wildlife related offences in Romanian legislation were presented in detail and concrete cases of offences that have reached the courts were presented and discussed.

Training session in Sarmizegetusa

The sessions were attended by key people from institutions that have attributions in the fight against wildlife crime, and even people who have been directly involved in the detection and conviction of famous wildlife crime cases. The sessions were interactive and appreciated by the participants as being very useful – at the end of the training, the feedback received from the participants was sometimes quite emotional. “In 25 years of my career, probably the best training session I have attended”, insisted to emphasize the Chief Prosecutor of Sinaia.

The trainings were covered by a local broadcaster, TV Arad: