The title of the piece
Federcaccia Sicily responded to an article that appeared in the newspaper “Balarm” in recent days. The newspaper, however, did not report in full the considerations sent, which we report below:
Having read the article published in your newspaper on May 31, 2025, entitled "In Sicily, unique species and ecosystems at risk: what's happening in no man's land", by Aurelio Sanguinetti, we cannot help but express our deep disappointment for so much misinformation aimed at describing Sicilian biodiversity at risk due to illegal hunting and poachers. If in Pozzallo the competent authorities have rightly stopped these poachers from Malta, contesting their illegal activity in Sicily, it means that the controls are there and are effective. As part of the "National Action Plan to combat crimes against wild birds", since 2017 Sicily has been the object of particular attention by the Supervisory Bodies, especially for the strategic role it plays in migration routes.
The connection to poachers
How can we place alongside poachers those who, in charge of a public service, carry out a regularly authorized wildlife control activity, aimed at limiting the strong diffusion of fallow deer (a para-autochthonous species for Sicily), which, by multiplying excessively, can be responsible for strong impacts on biodiversity and significant damage within the Madonie Park? The same thing goes for wild boar, with respect to which we often deliberately do not remember that in nearby Calabria there is an outbreak of African swine fever and if this very serious disease were to arrive in Sicily it would be a disaster for the many pig farmers on the island.
Negative impacts
The author of the article is obviously not aware of the negative impacts of the wild boar on species that nest or reproduce on the ground, many of which are of high conservation importance and typical of the Sicilian territory, such as the rock partridge, the quail and the Italian hare. In fact, the wild boar is omnivorous and feeds on everything it finds on the ground, including eggs and young born of other species. The author is also not aware of the negative actions of the same species on agricultural crops, that is, the habitat of many species now at risk, as well as a source of food for all of us. For some time, environmental associations - Legambiente, Lipu and WWF - have been spreading untrue news to paint a dark picture with alarmist and propagandistic purposes mainly against hunting and the Hunting Calendar published by the Councilor for Agriculture, drawn up in full compliance with the laws in force on the matter at community and national level.
Political instrumentalization
Furthermore, who among these environmentalist acronyms can claim to be in possession of the national bill to state with certainty that we will face a deregulation of hunting? If no one actually knows about this mysterious bill, what could the zoology experts who declared themselves against it have asked the Meloni Government, but to which proposal? It is clear that this is a political and associative exploitation to the detriment of legitimate hunting (rather than poachers), but also of the good faith of ordinary citizens who do not understand the technical-scientific aspects and therefore can be more easily influenced. Claiming that Sicily has become a “no man’s land”, that biodiversity is at risk in Parks, Oases, Reserves, etc., who benefits? Perhaps those who manage these territories badly?
Citizens cannot be misled
The cards should not be instrumentally mixed, citizens cannot be misled, it is necessary to say things as they are, and the reality is that nature in Sicily must be preserved and the conservation of these wonderful territories requires being managed in a technically correct way and not just closed to human activity and then abandoned to their fate. We hereby request the publication of this reply in accordance with the law on the press, as a party co-interested in the accusations expressed in the cited article, signed by Aurelio Sanguinetti (The President of Federcaccia Sicilia – Giuseppe La Russa).
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