Council vote
Yesterday the Regional Council approved the new text of the law on identification rings for calls that can be used for hunting. Definitely an important first step to arrive at a unambiguous regulation that gives greater certainty on theuse of calls. A round of applause therefore goes to the Regional Councilors who signed the proposal presented by Bravo, primarily to Massardi and to Bravo himself, respectively President and Vice-President of Commission VIII, and who obtained a result that was certainly not obvious, convincing their colleagues not to get distracted come on animal rights paeans. However, this is only the first step: in fact, the substantial scope of the changes has yet to be defined, which will have to be implemented through a Council Resolution, which will certainly have to deal with ISPRA and, most likely, with the TAR. The provision in itself is of general scope and does not appear to present findings of illegitimacy, but its concrete application must be respectful of the entire legal system, otherwise it will be an illegitimate application.
The concrete implications
Now we will see the application implications, which between resolutions, opinions, supply tenders and possible appeals, we will hardly see in practice before 2024, with the exception of the rule on the tolerances of the ring sizes (of immediate application also to the FOI and AMOV marks), which in any case assumes that the ring has not been altered, and of the regulation on the use of lures with a mutated phenotype (which will also be usable without a mark). The most important novelty is that a completely closed or resealable ring is introduced, also made of plastic material (but in this case with a metal tab - firm -), distributed by the Region: to all effects, therefore, the lures must be equipped with a real and proper "public seal", with the criminal responsibilities of the case. Indeed, there are many hunters who use AMOV and FOI duralumin or steel rings for their bred calls and it is believed that this type of ring already gives ample guarantees and certainties on the lawful origin of the call: these would prefer that the affixing of a further ring or band is only optional or necessary only for lures equipped with old types of ring, currently considered no longer probative with due certainty of the origin of the lures. For the case of already ringed adult calls, the use of a resealable ring around the tarsus to affix the regional seal is, moreover, an obligatory choice, but the concrete methods of distribution and application will have to be established. And will it be an additional or replacement seal? Certainly removing the duralumin or steel rings would not be easy, and often it could also be dangerous for the tarsus of the lure.
Regional ring
It will also be possible to ask for the replacement of the rings that are embodying in the tarsi of the calls, or that are causing injuries to the legs. It is also envisaged that lures with a mutated phenotype can be used even without markings (also this provision is of immediate application): however, it seems preferable and advisable to always be able to demonstrate the origin of the lure by means of the breeder's ring. In any case, the provision in law of the use of lures with a mutated phenotype finally protects us from certain idiocies of some control personnel, who in the past season seized mutated lures, certainly from farms, equipped with a regular ring, classifying them as " ornamental birds” not belonging to the corresponding species (such as saying that a person with albinism does not belong to the human race). Now all that remains is to wait for the concrete application implications, trusting that the calls already equipped with a duralumin or steel ring of the ornithological associations (primarily FOI and AMOV) can be exempted from the affixing of further seals, to which the value could be recognized of "regional ring". But most of all, one question grips us: how did Vittorio Feltri vote? (source: FIDC).