Political truth
With all due respect to the "distracted" leaders of some Tuscan hunting associations who rushed to acclaim President Eugenio Giani and the authors of the new Regional Hunting Wildlife Plan At the official presentation of the text—perhaps without even having carefully read it—the political truth of what happened finally emerges today. It is a truth that Federcaccia Toscana-UCT had denounced from the very beginning, both in its method and its substance, and which was the basis for our decision not to attend the presentation meeting for the Plan approved by the Regional Council. The radical shift in content and cultural approach of the proposal, compared to the previous document adopted by the Regional Council in the previous legislature, has a name, a surname, and a clear and unavoidable political direction: that of the Five Star Movement.
The Five Star Movement's role
It's not us at Federcaccia Toscana-UCT who say this, but directly and bluntly from Regional Councilor Irene Galletti, a member of the Movement and a member of the Second Council Committee that will examine the Plan before final approval. In a statement published in Tirreno and reposted on social media, the councilor openly claims the decisive role her party played in amending the text of the PFVR, describing a genuine "change of perspective" achieved thanks to constant political pressure within the regional majority, and proclaiming her party's victory.
A declining phenomenon
According to Galletti, the changes introduced are justified by the fact that hunting and hunters are a rapidly declining phenomenon and that hunters cannot be considered "protectors of the ecosystem" and biodiversity. This is also because reduced numbers of practitioners would reduce the resources needed by the sector. This ideological approach, however, ignores the fact that it is hunters themselves, through the fees paid to the ATCs, who actually bear the costs of wildlife management and the damage caused by wild fauna to agricultural production. If the Five Star Movement representatives truly believe that the damage should be borne by the Tuscany Region budget, they should say so openly. Regarding the statement about the decline in hunting and hunters, we would like to remind the Councilor that hunters, and perhaps more generally all citizens close to rural culture, currently represent far greater numbers than those obtained by the Five Star Movement, in much of our widespread Tuscany, as clearly demonstrated by the results obtained by the candidates of the former Five Star Movement in the recent administrative elections for the renewal of certain municipalities.
Political drift
Furthermore, hunters will finally learn how things went, and how, despite reassurances during the election campaign, a political shift has taken place within the majority, which now appears to have its full future implications. The upheavals regarding the new restrictions introduced for thousands of fixed hides in Natura 2000 sites, the tightening of restrictions on the use of lead ammunition, the unfair regulations imposed on environmental impact assessment procedures that will paralyze wildlife management and the review of institutions, the new restrictions on future hunting calendars, and many other "gems" that we will report on in detail in the coming days, therefore reflect a precise political agenda. A agenda destined to produce further unjustifiable restrictions (as already announced) even in future passages in the Commission and the Regional Council.
Deafening silence
Our Association has been the only one to date, amid the deafening silence of almost all other hunting associations (except ANUU Migratoristi), to openly challenge the draft with conviction and with the full support of the Regional Assembly. We have had to acknowledge, with bitterness, that the process of dialogue and consultation, responsibly pursued in the recent past, has been interrupted through no fault of our own. Federcaccia Toscana-UCT will continue to denounce the Plan's contents in detail in the coming days, promptly informing the hunting community, stakeholders, and institutions of the concrete consequences these decisions risk having. Meanwhile, we have learned that the Regional Council is preparing to approve the new 2026/27 Hunting Calendar. At this point, given what has emerged, we believe that Tuscan hunters have every right to demand maximum attention, transparency, and clarity regarding upcoming decisions regarding the future of hunting in Tuscany. (Federcaccia Toscana-UCT Press Office)
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