Moldovan parliament tightens sanctions against poaching

Chisinau, October 8, 2026 – A draft law aimed at strengthening measures to protect wildlife resources and combat poaching was adopted by the parliament in the second reading.

The document establishes clearer rules for managing wildlife resources and combating illegal hunting, providing authorities with more effective tools to prevent and punish such acts.

The draft law introduces the concept of a hunter’s card, an official document certifying an individual’s status as a hunter. It may be issued in both physical and electronic formats, in exchange for a fee of 660 lei paid into the Treasury account of the Environment Agency.

The powers of the wildlife resources administrator are also expanded. The administrator will be responsible for developing and approving the Guide on the management, organization and planning of wildlife resources, the Regulation on the Hunter’s Code of Ethics, and the Regulation on the Status of the Hunting Warden.

The draft law also expressly defines acts considered illegal hunting (poaching). They include hunting without hunter status or without a valid hunting permit; unauthorized use of hunting weapons and the use of prohibited weapons, ammunition or devices, including night-vision and thermal-imaging devices. Poaching also includes pursuing wild animals, by use of means of transport, including unmanned aircraft; harvesting species not listed on the permit; and the illegal capture, injury or killing of protected species. The transportation, possession, sale or circulation of game or products got through illegal hunting will also be considered poaching.

The proposed amendments to the Contravention Code and the Criminal Code increase penalties for violations of hunting rules and poaching. Thus, poaching committed by an individual that causes damage exceeding 10,000 lei may be punished by a fine of up to 42,500 lei, unpaid community service or imprisonment for up to three years. In the case of legal entities, the fine may reach 200,000 lei, together with disqualification from carrying out a specific activity.

The draft law also regulates the situations in which additional harvest quotas or hunting outside the established periods may be approved for wild boar, fox, jackal and great cormorant. These measures may be applied in such situations as the emergence or spread of transmissible animal diseases, or to prevent and combat damage to agricultural crops, forest resources, fishery resources, property or domestic animals. In all cases, the application of these measures must comply with species and habitat conservation objectives, environmental legislation and the principle of sustainable use of wildlife resources.

The legislative initiative was submitted by Veronica Briceag, a member of the parliamentary faction of the Action and Solidarity Party. Specialists in wildlife management, representatives of the competent authorities in the fields of environment and wildlife resource management, as well as practitioners involved in the administration and monitoring of wildlife resources, contributed to the drafting of the bill.

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