Libera Caccia Umbria ironically criticizes the introduction of pheasants and other game in the winter period probably for the "white week" given the critical weather conditions.
I hope you will forgive us a bit of irony, but continuing to enter farmed game in meteorologically "critical" periods like the current ones, announced in all the sites that deal with "weather forecasts" with knowledge of the facts is pure madness. We have repeatedly reiterated that similar repopulation operations with animals coming from breeding, even if of excellent management and provided with quality certification (not to be confused with the term wildness) are useless, do not guarantee appreciable results, determine the death of 75 per one hundred of the animals placed (and we are talking about Phasianids) during the first days of "liberation", even more so if the subjects are placed in the middle of winter, perhaps with snow and with climatic and territorial conditions unsuitable for their survival ... and not Breeders are offended for this, they are the first to know and do their job !!!
Game born and raised in "full board" enclosures and aviaries, how many possibilities does it have to find a suitable habitat and sufficient sources of food outside to allow it to reach the reproductive period in fair physical condition? The "experts" of the sector continue to tell us that everything is fine, that the period is the right one, that many females have "the egg on the operculum" (not to use another very fashionable and more abusive term) and that the first "brood" can be lost.
The problem in our humble opinion is only one ...the Restocking and Capture Zones are, in terms of Phasianidae production, extremely deficient and the ATCs must (or prefer ...) make use of, to compensate for the missed catches, the planning of catches downwards and other management errors, to livestock heads with all that goes with it. But in the phase of stipulation of the Tenders who decides the suitable periods for the subsequent supplies of the game ... the ATC who then have to pay for the game with our money or the Breeders who want to get rid of it as soon as possible due to cost problems. maintenance? The question arises spontaneously and the curiosity is great, given that on Saturday 9 February we sent the first contingent of Pheasants, Partridges and Partridges in the "white week" and on Wednesday 13 February the second "trip" presumably always on the snow is leaving.
That the clubs of the various hunting associations and organized groups of hunters decide to experiment with similar repopulation operations with the contributions of the members, collegially choosing where, how and when to do them is sacrosanct and we do not allow ourselves to object, but we expect from the ATCs, responsible for the correct management of fauna and territory, to make biologically more prudent and sustainable choices.
ANLC Umbria Press Office
(February 12, 2013)