Hunting and Fauna: Lecco, regarding the collection of the Deer in the Lecco Pre-Alps, the Province decides the path of caution, resisting the conflicting pressures of hunters and environmentalists.
The provincial councilor for the environment, Carlo Signorelli, specified the position of the Province regarding the proposal to open deer hunting in the Lecco Pre-Alps area which aroused the protest of environmentalists, "Probably and unsafe, first of all". The proposal stems from the presumed increase in the deer population also in the Pre-Alps as already ascertained for some time in the Alps, in the areas of Colico, Legnone and Valvarrone where ungulates are very numerous, so much so that their collection has increased from year to year until reaching to the 30 items taken in last season.
Councilor Signorelli underlined that instead, as regards the Prealps area, we will go with lead feet, “The censuses are made every year and the deer is growing. Until last year, the census told us that hunting in the area of the Alps made sense but not in that of the Prealps. The technicians will look at the data, but there is no discretion in the decisions: they are all very mathematical formulas. After the censuses, in fact, there are the sampling plans that must be sent to Ispra (higher institute for environmental protection and research) of Reggio Emilia, which evaluates the numbers of samplings and then approves, modifies or rejects the sampling plans ".
Nonetheless, the mere idea of the proposal provoked the protest of environmentalists who dispute the fact that the hunters are the ones who make the censuses, but the commissioner reassuring the detractors specifies, "The censuses are made in some cases with delegations to the districts but environmentalists are also part of these bodies, so much so that in recent years Pierfranco Mastalli, current president of Legambiente, had presided over an Alpine area. And, in any case, the censuses are carried out under the supervision of the Provincial Police Corps which evaluates and corrects ”.
Furthermore Signorelli points out that hunters have no interest in the extinction of the species, “There is a coincidental interest if people are, as they are, honest. We, the hunters and the conservationists, have the same goal. And the withdrawals are made in compliance with the protection of the species, laws and regulations. Only some operations are done exclusively by hunters who have, many times, superior knowledge of the territory than our own technicians. We must not face either underestimation or overestimation. It would be a disaster ”. Councilor Signorelli then gives an explanation to the proposal to open deer hunting also in the Pre-Alps, “I have dozens of farmers who complain about damage to crops and fences. If you multiply too much, the deer creates problems and damage that we must then compensate with money from the wildlife damage fund ”.
Finally, the commissioner, explaining the need for censuses aimed at understanding whether the deer is actually present in the Pre-Alps and if it is even in excess of the territory in which it lives, concludes "Our goal and I can say it with great tranquility because I am not a hunter , is twofold: to protect the species, to increase it when the numbers are low and to decrease it when the numbers are too high. We must regulate the activity according to the laws of the state ”.
28 April 2014