Dozens of livestock breeders protested by pitching tents on the Sub-Balkan road. The reason for their dissatisfaction is that during the last 25 years, according to them, the opportunity to take their animals to pasture in the Balkans has been continuously limited. They also demand monitoring of the way national parks are managed. The protesters plan to block the road in the Kalofer area for an hour from tomorrow.
Precisely at 10:00 a.m., cattle breeders started setting up the tent camp along the Sub-Balkan road. The problem of limited grazing in the national parks affects all of Central Bulgaria, including the municipalities of Kalofer, Karlov, Pavel Banya.
Dimo Rashkov, a livestock breeder since 2012, explains why the tension is escalating now:
"From next year, animal grazing will be limited. Grazing of domestic animals will not be allowed above 1500 meters above sea level. At the same time, below 1500 meters is a forest, where animal grazing is also prohibited. This is one way to erase this animal husbandry and livelihood in the Balkans. There are about 3,000 cattle and over 5,000 sheep in Kalofer.
Protesters are demanding that they be allowed to put the herds in the Old Mountain pastures. From National Park "Central Balkan" are categorical that the restrictions do not threaten the development of animal husbandry in Bulgaria. They specify that the total area of the territory of the three national parks is less than 2 percent of the national territory.