The campaigns are shared by the Ministry of Environment with the police forces and target in particular coastal roads, according to the head of the wildlife unit at the Ministry of Environment, Mohamed Ismail, who has supervised several campaigns.
Ismail said in statements to “Sky News Arabia” that the campaigns resulted in the arrest of a number of violators who trade or keep swans in violation of the law.
He pointed out that a number of shop owners, especially shops selling and cooking fish on the road to Ain Sukhna and Suez, east of Cairo, were caught chaining swans in front of their shops.
As for the reasons why these shops keep swans, the environmental official said that this phenomenon spreads on coastal roads that witness active bird migration, especially in the period from August to November of each year.
He pointed out that fish shop owners buy these swans from fishermen who hunt them during the migration season and sell one swan for an amount of up to 1,500 Egyptian pounds.
He explained that fish shop owners use swans as decoration in front of their shops, attracting tourists and visitors to photograph with them, in addition to offering them food waste from fish and helping them get rid of them.
He added that in addition to being in violation of Environmental Law No. 4 of 1994, the owners of these shops commit another heinous crime, which is breaking the wings of swans to prevent them from escaping from them and chaining them in front of the shops in case of misery.
He stressed that the Ministry of Environment has received many reports against those who commit such crimes, and that campaigns are continuing and the necessary legal action is being taken against violators.
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