We often hear in the media that poaching is a reprehensible occupation, and a poacher is a criminal. But at the same time, few people explain to children what, in fact, we are talking about. Meanwhile, a brief survey on the Internet showed that few users can formulate what exactly the crime is and how poaching affects the environment.
Poaching as a crime
The state is obliged to take care of the conservation and renewability of natural resources. As the sad experience of mankind shows, everything is interconnected and the destruction of one species inevitably changes the biocenosis of the area as a whole. In fact, the modern poacher is a person who sees only his own momentary benefit and for his sake is ready to destroy the environment without any pity, without looking into the future.
Predatory methods of hunting, fishing, logging and gathering wild plants inflict deep wounds on nature. In place of some species, others come, seriously upsetting the balance and harming humanity itself. In order to prevent these phenomena, there is a state wildlife conservation program. The legislation strictly regulates the limits for shooting game, the methods and seasons of hunting and fishing.
Types of poachers
It is possible to conditionally divide poaching into several categories. For example, a VIP poacher is a high-ranking official or oligarch who takes advantage of his official position or bribe for the pleasure of hunting, not paying attention to the law. Usually we are talking about the shooting of wild animals, possibly rare and endangered species. According to statistics, the damage from this category is not so great.
Catching fish and crustaceans during spawning is in itself a crime. If prohibited guns are used for industrial production volumes, this is an aggravating circumstance. Deforestation, selective or continuous, seriously upsets the balance of water exchange, deprives places of residence of wild animals and birds. Illegal mining, and the export of sand, soil, amber, can also be included here. Industrial poaching is the real scourge of our time. Damage from small and one-off violations is not comparable with such a scale.
The word poacher: origin and interpretation
This word came to Russian from French in the second half of the 19th century. Braconnier - this is how hunters were called in France, allowing themselves to shoot game without the permission of the owner of the hunting ground. The feudal lords considered this a serious crime, for which penal servitude and even the death penalty relied. If the forest belonged to the crown, then the misconduct became even more serious. But before the term began to mean a criminal, the so-called hunters with dogs, that is, connoisseurs of dog hunting.
Very quickly, the concept spread to any similar manipulations with wildlife, because a poacher is a game hunter, a fisherman or a cutter. The same actions against pets and birds are classified as theft.
Use of the term
The use of the word “poacher” in a figurative sense is extremely rare, solely as an artistic device designed to draw parallels with the illegal fishing of something belonging to the rightful owner. In the vast majority of cases, the term is used literally; it does not have a derogatory or derogatory color. Poacher, what does this word mean? This refers to a violator of all kinds of environmental laws, pursuing personal gain. This is an official name.
In some cases, the process of collecting wild plants is called poaching, and one has to rely only on laws and codes of practice available to local authorities. Logically, there should be some reasonable limit, according to which violators are classified. Local residents may not know the latest laws, for example, that the forests adjacent to their village are suddenly declared a conservation zone. Yes, and half a bucket of butter can not be compared with a full machine of cedar cones, which were collected by the method of lumbering trees.
What is the name of the person who plucked snowdrops for sale by March Eighth? Of course, this is a poacher. The meaning of the word does not imply discrepancies - snowdrops are listed in the Red Book. Therefore, you can’t even pick a small bouquet for your girlfriend, the law is the law.