General opening
The meeting of the Regional Council of the was held in Florence Tuscan Federcaccia UCT. The proceedings, opened by a report by President Marco Salvadori, focused on the main critical issues that are characterizing the days prior to the general opening of the hunt on 17 September. After an initial assessment of the conduct of the so-called pre-opening practiced by about 7 thousand hunters in our region, we immediately moved on to an in-depth analysis of the points relating to the potential ban on the use and transport of lead ammunition less than a hundred meters from the areas considered as wetland and to follow, on the new ministerial provisions relating to the measures to contain wild boar on ASF (African swine fever).
Industry experts
Regarding the lead issue, our association had the opportunity to represent to hunters the problem and the consequent requests and solutions to politics and the national and regional government, on the occasion of the well-attended public assembly held on Tuesday 5 September in Ponte Buggianese (PT). A public event which was also attended by industry experts and qualified managers of the association, where possible solutions to the problem were identified, both from a technical and legislative point of view.
Ambiguities to overcome
The regional council itself once again reiterated the need for the National Government to approve urgently and before the general opening of the hunt, a legislative act that supersedes the current Ministerial Circular issued in February and devoid of legal value (as referred to in the sentence of the TAR Lazio published on 4 September 2023). As known, the Government Circular does not allow to overcome the ambiguities contained in the European Regulation which at the moment remains the only reference act to be observed.
Wetlands
The request also reiterated by the Regional Council is therefore that of urging the Government to assume the political responsibility of issuing an emergency legislative act in which to define the characteristics of the wetlands, the possibility of transporting ammunition even in proximity to them and to apply a sanctioning regime that limits any sanctions (now of a criminal nature) in the administrative sphere. Simultaneously or in the absence of this act, the need to urgently approve a specific resolution with attached maps of the areas possibly affected by the ban is being proposed to the Tuscany region.
Plan on swine fever
In this sense, contacts are also underway with the department at this time for a solution to the problem. Last but not least, the issue of the new extraordinary PSA plan was addressed. In this regard, the regional council reiterated the need to immediately activate an operational table coordinated by the Region involving the managing bodies (ATC) the hunting and agricultural world. The results on the objectives identified by the Extraordinary Commissioner can only be achieved through the involvement of hunters and in particular of the representatives of the wild boar teams and districts, avoiding useless conflicts and tensions, even within the hunting world. A full willingness to work to solve a huge health and economic problem, provided however that it is possible to make a contribution in the places of decision and not only in terms of functional operations (source: FIDC).