Pending pronouncement
We can attempt to make some considerations on the past year regarding our hunting passion. With the cold shower of the appeal accepted by the TAR of Milan regarding the suspension of general opening on the third Sunday of September, thus accepting the reasons of the various animal rights groups and awaiting a definitive ruling, postponed to October 1st, we also found ourselves in an unlikely situation whereby the hunting of birds of any species remained closed, while the other possible ones, from ungulates to hares, were opened, and also that from a fixed hide following an immediate resolution of a new regional resolution on the matter. Then finally the publication of the ruling. The TAR rules that "hunting activity is practically coeval with human history and although it has lost its original character of sustenance of communities, it equally represents a part of the Italian social and cultural tradition, without taking into account that hunting pursues a purpose of conservation of the animal heritage, just think of the selective killing of invasive species or to limit the spread of serious diseases such as African swine fever".
Sustainable hunting
This determination, which sets a precedent, puts us back in tune with the real country. The TAR then refers to the Council of Europe, in its Charter of Hunting and Biodiversity, principle 6, which introduced the notion of "sustainable hunting" which confirms the legitimacy of hunting, albeit in compliance with biodiversity and environmental protection needs. The main issue is therefore declared clearly unfounded. Another consideration of the TAR concerns the ISPRA opinions, which it is again reiterated do not have binding effect, and that the Regions can depart from them through adequate and congruent technical-scientific motivation. The reasons given as the basis of the Calendar by the Lombardy Region, substantial and technically made with so much scientific attention to be able to depart from the ISPRA opinion, integrated in the judicial debate by data proposed by Federcaccia and two other Associations, were considered appropriate both for the provision regarding the fourth weekly hunting day for fixed hides, therefore confirmed, and regarding the closing dates of hunting in January, with confirmed times and methods of the original regional calendar.
Key concepts
Obviously the animal rights counterpart decided to appeal to the Council of State against the ruling of the TAR Milan. The Council of State with an order of 6 December rejected the request to suspend the ruling of the TAR Lombardy and the Lombardy hunting calendar. The Appellate Judges certified that the Key Concepts on migration periods are not legally binding and can be overcome with proof to the contrary and then recognized that the periods used by ISPRA, unlike those of other European States, are based on a prudential probabilistic criterion that considers the species as already migrating when "the earliest movements on the territory" are identified for it. The Judges then recognized that the motivation given by the Region for the 2024 hunting calendar in deviation from the ISPRA opinion appears to be "appropriate and complete in relation to the different assessments of the various institutional bodies and the European guidelines". The Council of State therefore considered that "the danger" denounced by the animal rights associations was not positively appreciable and therefore rejected the requests to bring forward the hunting closure.
Finance law
These are very important rulings for the hunting world, which together with the rulings of the administrative courts that preceded them, put down in black and white fundamental principles for the future drafting of hunting calendars; a safer path to follow has finally been traced and these rulings will also make it much more difficult for animal rights activists to present admissible appeals, given the well-motivated calendars. But that's not all, for the positive news that we believe was made in the right consideration of an activity that is strongly regulated by European directives and national and regional laws. In the recently approved 2025 budget, the amendment to art. 18 of 157 was inserted to affirm that hunting is legitimized and authorized by law for each hunting year. That in addition to ISPRA, the National Wildlife-Hunting Technical Committee must also be consulted. That any challenge to the calendars must take place within 30 days of their publication, and that hunting associations are necessary parties to the judgment. And that, if the various TARs were to accept the precautionary requests for suspension, pending the ruling on the merits, hunting activity is permitted according to the terms of the last legitimately applied hunting calendar.
Wishing you a Happy New Year
This is no small thing; it is worth noting the will of the legislator to ensure that correct procedures implemented by the Regions in a professional manner and respectful of the rules, cannot always be called into question with appeals made in photocopy just before the opening of the hunting season in the hope of some suspension, awaiting judgments that are sometimes long in time. All this does not exempt us from continuing as Federcaccia to invest our members' money well in research and in the production of scientific studies to support the reasons of the entire hunting world. May the year just begun therefore be marked by legal certainty for all of us too. Best wishes. (Federcaccia Brescia – CACCIAPENSIERI)
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