Environmental groups are demanding an immediate ban on hunting across the Greek island of Chios, after two devastating wildfires this summer destroyed vast stretches of land and wildlife habitats.

In a joint appeal to the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the local Forestry Directorate, 21 organizations requested that hunting be suspended for at least five years, arguing that the island’s biodiversity is under extreme pressure and needs time to recover.

 in June and August turned 28,250 acres of land to ash—equivalent to 13.6% of Chios’s territory. Data from the National Observatory of Athens show that nearly 22% of the island’s surface has burned in wildfires since 2016.

This year’s blazes destroyed two of Chios’s six designated wildlife refuges and severely impacted the remaining areas, including two protected Natura 2000 sites. According to the groups, “the extensive wildfires left behind enormous losses in ecosystems, with incalculable consequences for wildlife.”

Allowing hunting to continue, they warned, would further endanger already weakened animal populations, depriving them of the chance to recover and find shelter. To enforce the ban, the groups also called for strengthening the local Forestry Service.

Among the organizations supporting the request are Greenpeace, WWF Greece, and the Hellenic Ornithological Society, along with other national and regional environmental groups.

They describe the proposed ban as the “minimum and absolutely necessary measure” to give Chios’s wildlife a chance to survive and to prevent further loss of biodiversity on an island already scarred by repeated fires.