It is an unusual procedure that adopted by the Regional Hunting Department, first asks to ISPRA the opinion on a very detailed draft of Regional Hunting Calendar then. received an extremely penalizing response for our Region. asks the Hunting Associations for their opinion on how to extricate themselves from the mess created. As ARCI-Caccia we do not intend to give suggestions to wildlife technicians of the regional offices which, having received correct political guidelines, are able on their own to draw up a calendar respectful of 157/92 including the innumerable facets that the management programs of ATC and CA require. However, we hope that the VINCA, to which that Calendar will be subjected, will not be entrusted to the same Studio that evaluated the draft of the Regional Hunting Wildlife Plan.
At this time we do not even want to try our hand at the "technical-scientific" criteria deriving from the Key Concepts and from which ISPRA derives its lucubrations to justify a strong reduction in times and species for withdrawals of migratory game, given that strong opposition is already underway against these by the national hunting associations at the competent ministries and at European level. However, we want to make one thing clear: ISPRA's is a political program that aims at more than a technical opinion substantially modify the hinges on which Law 157/92 is based. This law, which for 30 years has governed wildlife management in Italy, was the result of mediations, especially on the opening and closing dates of the hunting activity, which take into account the geographic conformation of the country and the climatic differences existing between the Regions.
Let's be clear that we consider the opening at the third of September and the closing at the end of January essential. If we then consider the unpredictability of the current ones seasonal climatic trends, quibble about the difference of about ten days as regards the opening to the "sedentary" and to some migratory species such as bottaccio (from the third Sunday of September to the first of October) period during which in most of the ATCs in Lombardy, and in all Alpine areas, hunting is either still closed or severely limited by management programs, it seems to us more an anti-hunt pretext than the desire to protect wildlife.
To date we do not know what the opinions ISPRA will issue on Calendars of other Regions, but we think that they will not be able to deviate from that formulated for Lombardy, therefore we invite the Regional Council to put the question within the State Regions Conference and with the contribution of the Ministries of Agriculture and the Environment, uniform choices are reached throughout the national territory (The Regional President of Arci Caccia Lombardia - Ivan Moretti).