Who attended the event
Organized by the Italian Hunting Federation, a working meeting was held in Todi, in the province of Perugia, in recent days, which brought together a representative of European hunting organizations gathered in FACE – the Federation that gathers and represents about 7 million passionate hunters from different European countries, whose passion and vitality were repeatedly referred to and honored during the meeting – and the Italian hunting associations that are members. FACE President Torbjörn Larsson and Secretary General David Scallan, accompanied by Helmut Dammann-Tamke, President of DJV, the German Hunters' Association and the legal expert of the same Friedrich von Massow; Ian Bell, CEO of BASC, the English Hunters' Association, and Eoghan Cameron, President of BASC; Gerardo Arroyo, legal advisor of the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation and Nicolas Rivet, CEO of the French National Federation of Hunters, met with the National President of the Italian Hunting Federation Massimo Buconi, Gian Luca Dall'Olio, Past President of FIdC and Vice President of FACE for Italy, Dr. Michele Sorrenti, scientific coordinator of the FIdC Studies and Research Office and President of the FACE working group on the Birds and Habitats Directives, and the Federation's communications manager Marco Ramanzini.
Hunting protection
The working table, focused on international hunting issues and the necessary actions that can be implemented through FACE at a central level at the European Parliament and the Commission and in the individual member states with a coordinated action to protect hunting and activities related to rurality, both at a political level and in terms of relations with society, by the various member associations, also included the heads of the other Italian hunting associations adhering to FACE: the President of Libera caccia Paolo Sparvoli, of Enalcaccia Lamberto Cardia accompanied by the Vice-President Iacopo Piantini and the Vice-President ANUUMigratoristi Vladimiro Boschi. In consideration of the topics discussed and for a more complete and detailed picture of the Italian hunting reality, in many ways peculiar compared to other European countries, Marina Berlinghieri and Pietro Pietrafesa of Fondazione UNA and Daniele Bertoni, Deputy Director General of Fabbrica d'Armi P. Beretta, were also present at the meeting. On this occasion, the Hon. Luciano Rossi, National President of FITAV and International Shooting Sport Federation ISSF, brought his greetings with an appreciated speech on a reality close to the hunting world and which, despite its international successes, suffers from the growing climate of unjustified hostility towards everything that revolves around the legal and sporting use of firearms.
Social acceptance
Among the topics discussed, the coordination meeting of the working group paid particular attention to the issues that represent the main challenges for FACE members and for hunting at European level. A specific focus was made on the key issue of the social acceptance of hunting, a central and common issue for the entire hunting community in every country and which requires, in order to be successfully addressed, ever greater cooperation between the members of the Federation, as well as ever greater involvement of other international hunting and professional associations, such as CIC and SCI, but also of agricultural and livestock organizations as well as bodies and organizations that deal with or represent traditional rural activities as a whole, increasingly targeted by a common and well-orchestrated campaign of opinion aimed at influencing European public opinion by completely distorting the relationship between man/nature and animals in function of an animalist and vegan vision and in which hostility towards hunting represents only one of the aspects.
An important moment of comparison
“I am pleased to have hosted this important moment of meeting and discussion in Italy,” declared the national president of Federcaccia Massimo Buconi at the end of the work session. “Europe continues to be incomprehensibly perceived in our country as something distant and secondary, if not downright hostile, and so are many of its events and organizations. As far as we are concerned, limiting ourselves to our world of hunters, I believe FACE is an important and increasingly necessary institution. The presence at a central European level of a representation of hunters from different countries is much more strategic than what is normally perceived by Italian enthusiasts. This does not mean that there are no aspects to improve and work on. This is also why opportunities for discussion like this are important. For example, on a fundamental topic for us such as migration, which in our country is still the prevalent form of hunting for 50% of practitioners, we had the opportunity to reiterate the peculiarities of Italy and other nations that, like us, have hunting traditions and cultures that have their roots in the Mediterranean and the resulting needs and demands, also in terms of acceptance by civil society and institutions, which differentiate us from the situation of other nations in central and northern Europe. We have always worked on this topic and I must say that I have been able to detect full understanding and openness. This only strengthens my intention to further increase our commitment to this particular aspect of our presence in FACE” concluded Buconi.
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