Given the absolute seriousness of the current situation resulting from the pandemic from COVID-19 and the possible scenarios that lie ahead for the environmental wildlife management of the Region, we believe that it is necessary to put in place by the hunting world and the agricultural world, passing through the operational centrality of ATC, a series of concrete and non-demagogic proposals for the near future. We also deviate from the proposals of easy consensus that would be crippling both for the management and for the hunting activity in our Region. Safeguard public safety, protecting agricultural production and good wildlife management by guaranteeing the full functionality of the ATCs must be our priorities.
Without the ATCs to coordinate the work of the thousands of volunteers who work throughout the region, we would undoubtedly go towards an unprecedented management crisis. The effects of this crisis would certainly add to the scenario of severe economic difficulty that our country will have to go through. We certainly can't afford it! There Confederation of Tuscan Hunters, therefore, proposes to carry out a shared strategy based on four key points:
- Urgently reactivate containment interventions and wildlife control "in art. 37 ”, extending the possibility of operating to all authorized persons under close coordination of the Tuscan ATCs, in order to avoid further serious damage to agricultural production.
Restore the possibility of guaranteeing selection hunting as an activity carried out individually, always in compliance with safety regulations and drawing up sampling plans in close relationship with ATC technicians.
- Establish an extraordinary regional fund to guarantee ATC budgets, by virtue of the collaboration with the Tuscan agricultural world; thus ensuring the possibility of reimbursing damages while keeping the functions of the ATC management committees active, and avoiding direct responsibilities of the administrators.
- Give the possibility of enrolling in the ATCs through "Friendly shares" discounted for all people belonging to the "fragile categories", in particular pensioners and over seventies, for whom the possibility of going hunting constitutes a fundamental psychophysical and social safeguard factor in this context.
In our opinion, these should be the pillars on which to build the management model to be followed in the coming months. The general work remains much broader and more articulated and in the imminent "Phase 2" other multiple aspects related to hunting will have to be evaluated. Carry out the discussion aimed at the approval of the next CVR and evaluate the possibility of restoring some activities related to hunting that can be carried out safely starting from the next phase. Allow the maintenance work of the fixed posts, evaluating how to reopen in strict compliance with the health regulations, the training activities and dog training in single form, guaranteeing the operation of the areas in charge of it, are just some of the proposals that will have to be discussed. There Confederation of Tuscan Hunters makes its structure and its scientific technical staff available to the Region of Tuscany in order to facilitate and speed up the comparison operations. To protect hunting, agriculture, the environment and wildlife we must act now!