Volunteer group
The preparation of the qualification course for the establishment of a group of Volunteer Hunting Guards promoted by Coldiretti Massa Carrara in order to make control activities more effective pursuant to art. 37 of regional law 3/1994, in case of damage by wild fauna to the crops and harvests of agricultural companies. The farmers coordinated by Coldiretti are ready to gather in the first group of Volunteer Hunting Guards of the province of Massa Carrara as required by article 52 of regional law 3/1994 to give an effective and timely response to the emergency linked to wildlife, which it costs thousands of euros in damage to agricultural businesses every year (almost 80 thousand in 2021), discouraging cultivation in mountainous and more marginal lands with serious repercussions also for biodiversity, maintenance and erosion of the territory. This is a regulatory instrument, provided for by regional law, which enables authorized farmers to intervene throughout the provincial territory, at any time of the day, under the coordination of the Provincial Police force to contain the emergency linked to the related damages to wildlife. The request for the establishment of the Volunteer Hunting Guards by Coldiretti Massa Carrara has been given the green light by the Tuscany Region.
Land defense
“The need to set up the group of Volunteer Hunting Guards of our association is dictated by the need to effectively defend the lands of our agricultural companies that request intervention, because they are suffering serious damage to their crops – explains Francesca Ferrari, President of Coldiretti Massa Carrara –. We need rapid and effective responses as today the interventions are not timely and the effectiveness of the wildlife control tools required by law is nullified. We want to be of help both to our farmers, exasperated by the increase in wildlife, and to the Provincial Police which, due to the small number of agents, is objectively having difficulty in carrying out and coordinating interventions in a short period of time, so before it's too late."
The first experiment
The first training course to obtain the Volunteer Hunting Guard qualification will be held in 2024. To register you have until 31 December 2023 and applications can be deposited at the offices of Coldiretti Massa Carrara - "We have already experimented with the constitution of a group of Volunteer Hunting Guards promoted by Coldiretti in Mugello and other parts of Tuscany; the results obtained in the area were comforting with a significant decrease in damage to the production of agricultural companies - explains the President of Coldiretti Massa Carrara -. We are ready to start the training course to obtain the qualification of Volunteer Hunting Guard, for which it will be necessary to pass a suitability exam at the Territorial Office of Massa Carrara of the Region. Our invitation to participate in this journey is aimed at all those people who want to make themselves available to help resolve one of the biggest emergencies that our agriculture has been experiencing for too many years now (source: Coldiretti).