Hunting in Lazio: According to Legambiente, the extension of the hunting period on some species to 10 February 2011 decided by the Region did not take into account the opinion of the Technical Faunal Committee.
Rome, 12 Jan - "The extension of the closure of the hunting period to 10 February decided by the Lazio Region Agricultural Policy Department for some species comes unexpectedly to Legambiente Lazio, which denounces the lack of involvement of the regional wildlife technical committee in the decision".
This was reported by Cristiana Avenali, director of Legambiente Lazio, commenting on the news released a few days ago about the extension of the hunting calendar decided by the Councilor for Agricultural Policies Angela Birindelli.
Legambiente Lazio is part of the Regional Wildlife Hunting Technical Committee, which should be consulted on the matter of wildlife protection and planned management of the hunting exercise. This is why the association does not share the opinion expressed by Councilor Birindelli when he speaks of the provision as "an important intervention in favor of the hunting world, which at the same time protects and respects the environment".
The choice - Legambiente specifies instead - is part of a context in which the Lazio Region has already been recently disavowed by the TAR, which reformed the regional hunting calendar by providing for the early closure of hunting between the end of December and the beginning of January for many species. , as requested by the Institute for the Protection of the Environment (Ispra).
“We are against hunting, but we have always tried to keep an open discussion with hunters in full compliance with the rules of the law and in the direction of wildlife management rather than ready-hunting measures.
The decision made by listening only to the hunting associations is very worrying, if the Region does not intend to guarantee the rules for everyone, it inevitably risks blowing up the difficult dialogue underway. This is why we ask again how for months we have been having an urgent meeting with Councilor Birindelli - continues Avenali -.
Moreover, the measure adopted, which concerns four species of birds - the wood pigeon, the hooded crow, the magpie and the jay - will most likely only favor poaching: it is known that the four species mentioned are not among those sought by hunters, and therefore in the absence of targeted controls it will be only those who intend to violate the regulations to take advantage of the extension, exceeding the daily limit imposed by the provision itself or even aiming the viewfinder on other specimens ".
Source: ASCA