The Ministries involved
The Hon. Flavio Tosi, deputy and head of the Hunting Policies department of Forza Italia, wrote to the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Picheto Fratin, the Minister of Defense Crosetto and the Minister of Justice Nordio to receive information regarding the work of the operational unit staff of the environmental police force of the Forest Carabinieri Corps, called SOARDA, against hunters holding live decoys, victims of "invasive and sometimes aggressive control actions and protests without evidence" says Tosi.
Fight against poaching
SOARDA, Tosi recalls, "is a group that should specifically serve to combat poaching and instead it seems to have decided to intensify controls against hunters, in particular the hut keepers, who are legitimized by current law to practice stalking with lively calls." In fact, Tosi underlines, these controls "do not concern anti-poaching operations, but are reserved for private citizens who, in the context of a legitimate and regulated activity such as hunting or breeding, have their animals seized".
Public money spent
“The shed keepers – continues Tosi – even if they are equipped with the regulatory documentation that ascertains their domestic origin, would be accused a priori and without the existence of evidence of the legitimate possession of the decoys, considered irregular (i.e. wild) following the sole measurement of the rings affixed to the tarsus of animals". Tosi underlines, "exponents of anti-hunting animal rights associations would also participate in these operations, in contrast with the impartiality that should be expressed by the supervisory bodies". Tosi wonders "if it is useful to spend a lot of public money for a group of about twenty people who, from Rome, seem to move around the national territory without involving the stations of their Carabinieri colleagues or - in the Regions with special statute - the regional forestry bodies ”.