Arci Caccia Toscana intervenes in the sad controversy between hunters and animalists that arose from the initiative of the Hunting Association to bring knowledge of Italian fauna and flora to schools; we defend the hunters. We will move on to legal action.
To intervene on the controversy that has been going on in the local press for some days now is the regional hunting Arci and, through its vice president Massimo Logi, also the national one. "The disordered and offensive reactions that have been launched by some animal welfare associations in Grosseto on the project" knowing the fauna of our countryside "promoted in many Tuscan primary schools by Arci Caccia, once again confirm that the path taken, that of speaking to young people generations, to teachers, the language of knowledge and the balanced relationship with the faunal resource breaks the false hegemony of a certain environmentalist and animalist culture ».
To intervene on the controversy that has been going on in the local press for some days now is the regional hunting Arci and, through its vice president Massimo Logi, also the national one. "The disordered and offensive reactions that have been launched by some animal rights associations in Grosseto on the project" knowing the fauna of our countryside "promoted in many Tuscan primary schools by Arci Caccia, once again confirm that the path taken, that of speaking to young people generations, to teachers, the language of knowledge and the balanced relationship with the faunal resource breaks the false hegemony of a certain environmentalist and animalist culture ".
We read in the note from Arci Caccia Toscana: “The declarations that have taken place in recent days by the animal rights group and certain political forces from Grosseto, bring out a mix of hatred and genericity that frankly disconcerts and shocks; if only one accusation of "massacre" was missing in order for the picture to be complete, we learned from an ENPA press release that hunters could even encourage bullying. The thing, if it were not tragic, would be comical, and in any case, given the gravity of the accusation that is leveled against a category of honest citizens, we reserve the right to take legal action to defend our integrity.
However, we want to respond promptly to the many accusations made by this vast plethora of "beautiful souls" who, from the height of their presumed ethical superiority, have identified in the hunters the absolute evil to be defeated so that the world knows a new "moral renaissance". Hunters, and in particular Arci Caccia, have been collaborating for years with environmental associations on the basis of an axiom: hunting is an activity that can effectively contribute to the protection of the environment and biodiversity. Hunting, in a word, is green and when it undergoes these ignoble attacks, the Arci Caccia does not fear the clash with those who spread extremist cultures. It may sound like a blasphemy to these new champions of integralism, yet the hunting activity contributes to the maintenance of habitats and to the strengthening of wild populations.
The hunters, and especially the Arci Caccia, have contributed in a decisive way to produce national, regional and provincial legislation, in which sustainable collection has stemmed the voracity of overbuilding and slowed down the rarefaction of many animal species. All this would not have been possible if hunting, as these gentlemen would like, were abolished. Indeed, problems such as that of limiting damage to crops, their compensation (today everyone wants to protect the fauna furiously but only hunters pay the damage with their money), the defense of biodiversity endangered by invasive species, would be impossible to resolve without the figure of the hunter.
To affirm that hunters pollute and damage the environment, as if it were an incontrovertible truth, is like affirming that medicines damage health: the approximation of certain expressions confuses for their load of ideologism, devoid of any capacity for discernment. The hunters, it is said in the out of tune chorus that has risen in recent days against the educational project presented by the Arci Caccia in the schools of Gavorrano, mistreat the dogs, abandon them, starve them for seven months a year and, moreover, they kill each other due to the accidents that occurred during the hunting season.
We want to inform you that the area has numerous areas for the training of dogs which, from February to September, are very popular with hunters and their auxiliaries and the latter are not forced into the cramped spaces of city apartments and forced to do their business. only when their master is at ease. We also invite you to carry out an investigation with veterinarians to verify what and how much medical care is guaranteed to hunting dogs.
The hunters themselves are strongly committed to promoting safety, they have favored the obligation to wear high visibility clothing and the discussion around this theme is at the top of the interest of the category and of their associations. Numbers in hand, wanting to do a sad accounting, hunting is not one of the most dangerous activities among those carried out by man. Not considering non-recreational activities such as deaths on the road and at work, we can instead note the high levels of accidents, including fatalities, which are produced for example on ski slopes, during cycling competitions, on football fields or during excursions in Mountain. That said, none of us would think of abolishing these sports or hobbies that thrill thousands of people. The commitment, if anything, should be aimed at strengthening the culture of safety.
It is claimed that hunters kill for sport; on this aspect we would like to point out that hunters kill their prey only after hunting, they do not kill for the sake of killing. The predatory action, in itself, ennobles and makes natural a gesture as old as the world: wanting to denigrate passion and fun means ignoring an evolutionary force that has accompanied the intellectual development of humanity over the millennia. Also on the ontological level we want to underline that it is wrong, with regard to wildlife, to equate the fate of the single individual with the conservation of the species to which it belongs. With regard to wild populations, what makes a behavior ethical is not so much the suppression of the individual subject, but rather the commitment to safeguard and strengthen the species to which it belongs. Hunters do exactly that.
Finally, it is wrong to think of making the world better by humanizing animals. Respect for animals is not redeemed by lashing out against hunting, it is exploitation for profit that must be fought. This is the heart of the problem, certainly not that of radicalizing a compassionate criticism that is erroneously extended to all activities involving animals, without however addressing the foundations of the problem. The Arci Caccia, in fact, has always fought for a compatible and popular hunting activity and for an environment whose healthiness allows natural reproduction of wild species.
We also want to clarify a further aspect: it may seem strange, especially to the parent company of SEL at the Municipal Council of Grosseto, but hunters may also have specific scientific skills. The educators of the project are experts with top-level curricula, who live professionally in direct contact with the problems of the environment and the territory and who have obtained one, or more degrees, in Italian universities. Look, even those from Arci Caccia can be doctors!
Continuing on the question, Logi also stated, “In Gavorrano, in Tuscany, the general rehearsals of an attempt to make animalism the parliamentary and political cement of the coming years are being experienced. Now the time has come for the rest of the hunting world to come out with courage, raise their heads, join together to give breath to the reasons of a community, that of hunters, which knows it is cultured, scientifically prepared, concretely committed every day on the territory and above all respectful of the positions of others and ready for democratic confrontation "
Finally Logi concluded, “For this reason, the Arci Caccia, which today faces a fundamental challenge and which belongs to all hunters and their associations, must not be left alone”.
18 March 2013
Arci Caccia Tuscany