A scandal is unfolding in the North Kazakhstan Region over a VIP hunt whose participants called themselves "important people." Rangers who tried to stop the poachers were injured, and police have opened a criminal case, reports infohub.kz.
According to the rangers, they had to risk their lives to stop the violators who descended on the hunting estate under cover of night. Pavel Tepenko, head of the hunting estate in Zhambyl District, went there with colleagues. Hearing gunshots in the night, they rushed toward the sound and saw a horrifying scene. According to them, a group in a pickup truck was allegedly chasing a roe deer with headlights on. As reported in the footage, they allegedly shot a very young female from the vehicle and then slit the wounded animal's throat. The rangers note that no one had been issued a shooting license there.
The rangers say they demanded the group stop, but the company, according to them, rushed to the pickup and tried to flee. "I put my hand in, tried to open the car from inside, and they caught my hand in the window lift. The car was moving, I had to grab the roof rail with my left hand — they kept driving the whole time. They dragged me about 100 meters. I held on with my left hand, dragged my knee, well, my knee along the ground, and my hand — and I got injured: a dislocated shoulder, a sprained knee joint, ligaments, and later they put a cast on my leg," said Pavel Tepenko, head of the hunting estate in Zhambyl District.
According to the head of the hunting estate, the pickup stopped only when another ranger stood in its path. Police were called to the scene. While waiting for the squad, they filmed what was happening. In the footage, the men can be heard calling themselves "important people."
The rangers claim that among the five hunters were allegedly the head of a neighboring forestry and a police officer. But what shocked them more were not the positions but the trophies. "There were five of them, they smelled of alcohol. They spoke confidently, unafraid of anything. They said they were important people gathered here. When the police opened the car to inspect it, we saw two more butchered carcasses. They were young animals, small fawns," said ranger Vladimir Darsht.
A case has been opened for illegal hunting. The pickup was sealed and placed on the territory of the district police department. "According to preliminary data, a group of five hunters killed three Siberian roe deer. The participants were stopped by rangers. According to medical examination results, two were in a state of alcohol intoxication. As part of the investigation, information about the involvement of a law enforcement officer who was on leave is being checked," the press service of the Police Department of the North Kazakhstan Region said in a comment.