Due to the construction of houses in Mladá Boleslav, ground squirrels are dying and burrows are being buried
New houses are being built in a suburban locality called Sahara, which is located in the natural monument Bezděčín.
In the meadow near the local sports airport, there is a site of a critically endangered species of ground squirrel, the existence of which is now threatened by new development.
According to the Czech Environmental Inspectorate (CEI), it pays for backfilling, which is why it filed a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator with the police.
“The CEI believes that a legal entity performing construction work at the above-mentioned localities (or other persons) may have committed the criminal offense of unauthorized handling of protected wildlife, because an individual critically endangered species was killed during construction activities on the land in question. to damage individuals of a critically endangered species of animal, “said Jiří Ovečka, a spokesman for the state administration body.
Police have confirmed that they have been dealing with the case since mid-September, and a few days ago police officers instituted criminal proceedings for unauthorized handling of protected wildlife and wild plants.
“The whole case is currently being investigated and criminal investigators are investigating all the circumstances. They searched the whole place and used drones to map and document the whole area and the adjacent landscape, “said Barbora Schneeweissová, a spokeswoman for the Mladá Boleslav police.
The perpetrator faces up to three years in prison if he is found guilty.
The ground squirrel colony in Mladá Boleslav is one of the largest in the Czech Republic. In addition to Bezděčín, other ground squirrels live in the area of natural monuments in Radouč.