On the chronicle of Bologna of "La Repubblica" this morning we had the opportunity to read the accusations ofENPA extension to the Emilia Romagna region and hunters. Tomorrow the hunting season opens by applying the legitimate and regulated instrument of pre-opening and, as we expected, the usual note of the "anti" on duty arrives. One abbreviation is as good as the other because all are based on the diffusion of news packaged in such a way as to appear authoritative technical-legal considerations, when in reality you always read the usual mash of lies and half-truths, seasoned with a bit of catastrophism, which is always good to talk to the stomach of the Italians.
Assuming that hunting in our country is strictly controlled, perhaps the most regulated activity of all, and consequently when exercised absolutely legitimized, we remind ENPA and all the others who wish to speak on the subject, a series of absolutely objective facts that we challenge you to refute. The pre-opening is granted by the 157 / 92 law to the Regions that have a current Wildlife Hunting Plan, and the Emilia Romagna Region has it. It is not true that populations will be shot strongly in decline: the turtledove has a stable population in Italy (data updated to 2018) and the populations in migratory transit come to Emilia Romagna from areas of Central Eastern Europe, where the populations are stable.
It is not true that immature subjects are shot: the species that can be hunted in pre-opening are all outside the reproductive period, as per European documents approved by the EU Environment Commission. It is not true that ISPRA has asked to suspend the hunt for the pochard and lapwing, but it has advised the monitoring of the withdrawals and the limits of game bag, precisely implemented by the Emilia Romagna Region. It is not true that the two species are in "Bad state of conservation". On the contrary, in Italy the species have been increasing in recent years.
It is not even true that the only Regions to answer to the Ministry of the Environment were Molise and Sicily: all the Regions did so, rejecting the proposed ban on hunting, often attaching data and results of very recent monitoring. The SPEC classification that the anti-hunting acronyms have been citing for years has no official value as it belongs to a private body. On the contrary, there are official sources from the European Commission. Hunting for turdidae until 30 January 2020 is in perfect harmony with the Birds Directive and the interpretative documents of this. We hope that our note will be given the same space dedicated to ENPA, but even if this were not the case, this would not change the reality of things.