The Po Valley, a heavily man-made and intensively cultivated environment, however, hosts a population of nesting lapwings about 6.000-7.000 pairs, judged to have increased in recent years, in contrast to what happens in many European countries, where the species is in decline just as a breeder. Numerous studies have demonstrated the primary role of predation by mammals and birds on lapwing eggs and young, and for this reason the Multispecies International Action Plan, approved by the European Commission and the agreement AEWA extension, has established that the control of predators is a priority action, together with the control of agricultural practices, to restore the species to a state of favorable conservation.
The predators of the species are numerous: foxes, badgers, crows, magpies, herring gulls, some herons. To save the lapwing it is therefore urgent to extend and intensify on many species control of predators, otherwise Italy does not fulfill the requirements of the International Action Plan. Hunting Federation hopes that the Public Administrations involved will act in this direction, as is normally done for the European regulations that ask to limit hunting activities (Hunting Federation).