National park head “wins” anti-award

Ecological activists from Friends of the Earth have awarded Jan Stráský, the head of Šumava National Park, this year’s Ropák (Oil Guzzler) anti-award for most damaging environmental policies. The organisation said that they had chosen from among 24 candidates that also included Prague’s chief hygiene officer, the environment minister and the country’s president; but Mr Strásky’s name came up the most.

The activists slammed him for allegedly damaging the good name of the national park, and for taking questionable steps in care which – they argued – had hurt the local ecosystem. They also criticised his calling in the police during past activist protests; the national park head countered by saying that the charges contained many inaccuracies – stressing that if he had upset the group he had probably done something right. The Ropák anti-award takes its name from a fictional creature that survives on industrial waste; the animal was invented by Czech filmmaker Jan Svěrák.

Author: Jan Velinger