Bogota (AFP)

Environmental groups and Colombia’s government on Thursday welcomed a court’s move to ban hunting for sport, in the highly biodiverse country.

“We celebrate the decision of the @CConstitutional (Constitutional Court) to prohibit sport hunting in Colombia,” the Environment Ministry wrote on Twitter.

The court, charged with protecting the constitution, ruled late Wednesday in favor of a suit filed by activist-lawyer Laura Santacoloma. She sought to have sport hunting outlawed as environmentally negative in the country that boasts the world’s second-greatest biodiversity, after Brazil.

“It is not constitutionally allowable to kill or mistreat animals for the sole purpose of recreation,” magistrate Antonio Jose Lizarazo told a news conference explaining the sentence.

Lizarazo said that the ruling considers sport hunting “incompatible” with the Constitution’s mandate…