The Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) has managed for a short period of time to address issues that can be solved - such as the management of zoos and protected areas. The caretaker cabinet wished good luck to the next government in dealing with these problems.

“In any case, I would like to wish success, the cause of nature conservation and biodiversity is very big. This is not something that a person can do in one term. It is a long process that requires a lot of work,” said the Deputy Minister of Environment and Water Emilia Toncheva in the studio of “Bulgaria in the morning”.

The Deputy Minister of Environment and Water paid special attention to the illegal construction in protected areas.

“We are all witnessing situation on the Smokinya beach, the plowing of dunes, the installation of movable constructions, which will, however, be deeply concreted. This is a very big issue, because our inspection shows a discrepancy between the dunes and those reflected in the specialized map. It turns out that in some places existing dunes are not formally noted, and in other places areas are noted that do not correspond to the description of dunes,” she said.

One week ago, Bulgaria ON AIR broadcast a report on 3 bears cubs rescued around Smolyan, which excited and touched the audience against the backdrop of everything happening in the country. A victim to poachers or another reason is why these bears are in the Belitsa Dancing Bear Park?

“We were very worried that we found 3 bears cubs in less than a week. Two of them are related and the first one - Huba, she is probably not part of this group. This was a very alarming signal for us and provoked us to take immediate actions to shed light on the reasons,” explained the Deputy Minister.

No evidence of poaching was found, she said. Toncheva is also worried about two other “very concerning cases”.

“One of them – the poisoning of a griffon vulture, and the other - the placement of a poisonous bait near Dobrinishte, where the carcass of a bird has not yet been found, but the transmitter of this bird has been discarded,” she said.

The key to biodiversity in our country is to search for a balance between the interest and health of people and the protection of species, said Deputy Minister Toncheva.