Legambiente: "Strong concern for illegality in hunting in Umbria"

The environmental association Legambiente expressed its disappointment at the request for more hunting days after the early closure of the government.

Legambiente Umbria, the regional section of the environmental association, has expressed its opinion on hunting in the territory of its competence. The Territorial Areas of Hunting (ATC), that is, those who are called to manage the hunting area, and the Region itself, in charge of supervising and guiding through acts and guidelines useful for protecting the wildlife heritage, are interested in a fold of growing and worrying illegality. Furthermore, according to Legambiente, the Umbria Region is repeating the same “theater” of last year, a situation that could be foreseen by everyone, including hunters. In practice, the councilor for hunting Fernanda Cecchini has been criticized for flexing her muscles against the government and the early closure of the hunt, a move considered valid only to obtain the favors of Umbrian hunters.

The association did not even like Cecchini's choice to convene the regional hunting council with some urgency for reassure the industry about his attempt to get 5 or 6 more hunting days. The press release also underlines how the Department and the various hunting associations have long been aware of the obligations imposed by the community directive and national law on the member states of the European Union, specifically the ban on hunting migratory birds during periods of pre-nuptial migration (this is the case of thrushes and woodcocks).

Legambiente compared the Umbrian situation to one of the bad behaviors on which Checco Zalone made irony in his latest film “Quo vado?”, As exceptions cannot be invented in order to have partisan gains. The conclusion of the note is entrusted to the request that the environmental association makes to the governor of Umbria, Catiuscia Marini. The Region is the supervisory body and therefore should, in the opinion of Legambiente, start urgently a supervisory action that is rigorous, detailed and transparent, without neglecting the public reporting on the expenses and budgets of the Territorial Areas of Hunting, in particular that of the last ten years.

In this way, the money spent on actions aimed at the correct management of fauna and habitats could be discovered: the risk hypothesized by Legambiente is that this money could end up feeding interests outside the law, a possibility also suggested by the convictions by the Corte dei Conti to hunting exponents of the ATC of Terni and Orvieto. Umbria is one of the seven regions that have been taken into consideration in the last hours by the Council of Ministers to exercise the replacement powers and bring forward the closing of the hunting season to January 20, 2016.