The disagreements of the environmentalists could not be missing on the statements made, in a Rai radio broadcast a few days ago, by the new Minister for the Environment, Corrado Clini, regarding hunting.
The new minister during the program "A sheep's day" by Giorgio Lauro and Claudio Sabelli Fioretti, notoriously against hunting, was asked whether he was in favor or against hunting.
Doctor Clini's response was this: "I have no preconceived positions for or against hunting. I am not a hunter but I have friends who are and I believe that environmentally friendly hunters are good people. On the other hand, those who shoot here and there without too many compliments are less so ”.
This statement led to one of the two parts of the barricade, hunters and hunting associations, a slight jolt in the spirit, repenting in the minister's affirmations at least a hope of openness and renewal for an activity, with everything that revolves around it, so hindered and mistreated for a long time now, taking into account only ideleogies.
To the environmentalists, however, in particular at LIPU-BirdLife Italia, the statements of the new Minister for the Environment are not very popular and the immediate response was: "The relaunch of Italy, in addition to truly sustainable environmental policies, also involves respect for environmental legality and a more protected nature".
While appreciating, the environmental association, a part of the statements of the new minister regarding hunting: "As for the question of hunting, we are instead pleased that the minister mentions the problems caused by those hunters who, as he says, shoot to let off steam and therefore start a destructive hunt".
However, the head of LIPU Institutional Relations, Danilo Selvaggi, points out, "However, it is good that Minister Clini documents himself in depth on the extent of this phenomenon in Italy and on the serious problems it causes, to nature, to the environment, to people: downed cranes and eagles, small islands invaded by hunting illegality, dead and wounded even among the police, lead dispersed in the environment, massacres carried out by Italian hunters abroad, continuous granting of exemptions ".
In short, the world of hunting continues to be represented as a pack of unscrupulous killers without respect for nature as if a hunter finds himself at dawn wandering through the woods, the countryside, the hills and the mountains for the sole pleasure of firing rifle shots in the air in order to fill the territory as much as possible with lead and above all for the taste to kill anything that moves.
There are countless wild boar hunting videos in which hunters shoot only adult specimens leaving the chicks alone or video in which hunters see other species of animals passing by, even more valuable ones such as roe deer, deer and fallow deer, letting them pass undisturbed; if the hunting world were as they say this would not happen.
They then continue from LIPU with a proposal, “We would be happy to update Minister Clini on the community infringements and the convictions suffered by our country, or on the violence with which many hunters attack ISPRA, a highly authoritative institute that pertains to the Ministry of the Environment, continually insulted and offended, to the point that the European Commission had to intervene to take their defense. Just as it is appropriate for the minister to know how those Italian hunters who at least try to promote a less impactful and more respectful hunting activity are treated by the same practitioners of the hunting activity ”; as if to say “Mr. Minister, you probably don't know how things work, if you allow us to explain it to you…”.
Continuing his speech, Selvaggi affirms “It is also necessary that the issue of the many species of birds that are hunted in forbidden periods or those that should be excluded from the list of huntable species be dealt with quickly, because they are in great suffering. It is, moreover, about an essential task of the Ministry of the Environment, which concerns the safeguarding of biodiversity and requires a commitment that cannot be deferred".
Finally, Selvaggi concludes with an entirely environmentalist wish but makes a subtle differentiation: “In short, the minister certainly has a lot to do because of the serious plague of bad Italian hunting is finally healed and nature protected more. We wish him a sincere good job and offer him our full collaboration, but we will actively ensure that the relaunch of Italy also passes through these aspects, which are far from secondary and indeed very important for a country that wants to call itself civil ”; So is there also an Italian “good Hunting” for LIPU? Or is the sense that all Italian hunting is to be considered bad?
LIPU itself speaks of "healing" therefore in the first case it would be a question of healing bad hunting coexisting with good hunting as a diseased organ of the same body, while in the second case it speaks of curing the entire patient.
Obviously every honest and correct Italian hunter, lover of nature, can only agree with the first hypothesis since the great majority of Italian hunters have been contributing to the care of the territory and the protection of the environment for some time now.
The "other", the "bad" ones, are a small minority and have little future as they are increasingly marginalized by the first, the "good" ones, who often eliminate or at least destroy snares, acoustic calls, nets and other illegal hunting systems placed by these criminals.