The Haifa District Court sentenced a man to seven months in prison for illegally possession of portions of a porcupine, a protected wild animal, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) announced on Sunday.
The man, Remi Fahmawi, is what the INPA called a "serial porcupine hunter," and in 2009 parks inspectors first caught him with a bag of hundreds of porcupine spines and a second sac filled with the contents of a porcupine stomach – for which he was indicted. In February 2012, a judge convicted Fahmawi on one count of possession of a protected wild animal, and he received a fine of NIS 10,000 but no prison sentence. After an appeal from the INPA, however, judges ordered that the imprisonment indeed occur, and Fahmawi will enter jail in another month, according to the INPA.
"This is a major achievement in the struggle to preserve wildlife and in the struggle against criminals hunting and possessing protected wildlife without a permit," a statement from the INPA said.
