The Regional Administrative Court of Umbria canceled the order with which nine months ago the Municipality of Città di Castello had allowed thekilling of pigeons with firearms in places where hunting is permitted. Last April, in fact, the mayor Luciano Bacchetta made public this provision, the aim of which was to ensure optimal levels from the point of view of hygiene and health and protect the cultural heritage of the city endangered by animals. The decision of the administrative judges is the response to the appeal of the environmentalist association Victims of the Hunt against the same ordinance.
In practice, the mistake of the municipality was to not recognize the pigeons as belonging to wildlife. In reality, these birds are an integral part of it, given that, as established by the TAR, the jurisprudence has classified them in this way because they live in a state of natural freedom and are subject to the protection system provided for by Law 157 of 11 February 1992. The latter contains the rules for the protection of homeothermic wildlife and for hunting hunting: the fauna in question is considered an unavailable heritage of the State and subject to protection in the interest of the national and international community.
This means that the felling with Weapons in hunting areas it is not allowed, at least not before having used methods of containment of birds that can be considered ecological and therefore bloodless. In the event that these methods fail, then it will be possible to proceed with the killing, which must be carried out by specially appointed hunting guards and not by any person in possession of a hunting license. The violation found by the Court is that of Article 19 of the law ("Wildlife Control"), so now the order against pigeons will have to be written from scratch.
During the sentence, the Municipality of Città di Castello had decided not to appear in court and Federcaccia did so, despite being called into question by the Victims of the Hunt association. The pigeon problem has seen the Umbrian city involved several times. In particular, the Department of the Environment has recalled on several occasions the ban on feeding animals, since they can easily find food. The internal regulation also provides that citizens avoid the allocation and settlement of birds, even with small interventions, such as blocking access to cavities in the walls and installing bollards (not only sound) on windowsills and cornices in order to limit deterioration and hygiene problems.