TREGNAGO. Forestry agents surprised two hunters using the telephone to attract birds. Electro-acoustic instruments to deceive thrush finches, larks, cesene, starlings are prohibited but there is a sound library on the internet.
Tregnago. They study them all and some hunters seem to know more than the devil to put as many birds in the basket as they can. Although chasing finches is prohibited throughout Europe, and only the Veneto Region has allowed a derogation for which up to 25 can be killed per day per hunter, there are those who are not satisfied with the rifle and aim, but use even outlaw systems. Electroacoustic calls with mechanical or electromagnetic operation used to deceive finches, thrushes, larks, cesene, starlings were well known and prohibited by law.
We knew about the latest devilry on the subject, but we had not yet reached the point of catching a hunter who used the ringtone of his cell phone as a call to the crime. It is the result of a successful stalking operation by the agents of the Tregnago Command of the State Forestry Corps who chased and stopped a hunter who used his mobile phone in his pocket as a recall, aiming the rifle in the woods to shoot the unwary bird that replied.
"When he saw us and we told him to stop, he fled, but we stopped him shortly after," tell the agents. The excuse was obviously that the ringtone announced an incoming phone call, "but in the meantime there was no antenna coverage in that inaccessible place and then the cell phone continued to ring for the next five minutes until we finished the minutes. and there was no incoming phone call, but only the ringtone activated as a recall », explain the foresters, who proceeded to confiscate the weapon and confiscate the cell phone.
The event took place on Sunday 31 October in La Cengia di sopra on the slope of Monte Bellocca which looks towards the Val d'Alpone, on the border between the municipalities of Tregnago and San Giovanni Ilarione. The hunter, who was with an adventure companion, both armed and coming from Chiampo, was hunting the migratory fauna by stalking and the ringer repeated the song of the finch, whose hunting is allowed in derogation, as mentioned, but prohibited with similar electronic tools.
The old fonofill, with a maximum of twenty calls that can be activated remotely with remote control after having placed the equipment in a bush or on a branch, are increasingly replaced by the latest generation mobile phones: thousands of downloadable ringtones are available on the internet. mp3 format and which perfectly reproduce the song of the various species of birds, so everyone can store their own sound library on their mobile phone or iPod.
The reported person risks up to 1.500 euros in fines, as well as various ancillary sanctions, from the seizure of the weapon to the confiscation of the mobile phone.
In the meantime, until Saturday 6 November, it will be forbidden to shoot hares, pheasants, partridges and, in general, sedentary fauna. This was communicated by the councilor for wildlife policies of the Province, Fabio Venturi, informing that the Region has decreed the suspension of this type of hunting, in a rambling form, throughout the province. The limitations are due to extraordinary weather events and floods that occurred in the regional territory.
On the other hand, it is allowed to hunt migratory fauna (birds) in wandering form or from fixed or temporary stalking. The ban was also applied in the provinces of Treviso, Vicenza and Padua.
Victor Zambaldo
Source: L'Arena.it