Hunting and Fauna: Romania, animal welfare associations oppose a new law that opens the doors to hunters from abroad, especially Italians and Lebanese, which could lead to an excessive collection of some species and in particular ofLark, much loved in Romania.
Animal rights activists, environmentalists and Romanian citizens rise up against the possible approval of a new hunting law under the banner of deregulation, which would deliver animals and territory to hunters and poachers, mostly from Italy. “But also from Lebanon” explain Ovidiu Bufnila, head of communications of the Romanian Ornithological Society / Birdlife, and the biologist Marina Druga. “It is full of tourist agencies that organize hunting packages in Romania, not only for birds but also for bears, lynxes, wild cats and many other species. Many of our politicians are hunters and businessmen at the same time, so it is difficult not to think that along this preferential lane there are no expected flows of money that from Italy or other countries will end up in their pockets ”. According to the new Romanian regulatory design "foreign hunters will be able to exercise their pastime on private properties even without the owner's consent, the hunting period for some species will increase by three months, including the mating and breeding period of the offspring" explains Filippo Bamberghi , coordinator of the WWF hunting security guards in Milan and member of the CABS-Committee against birds slaughter.
“In short, it would lead to real carnage, when already in recent years, in Romania, we have seen intolerable hunting pressure, especially to the detriment of the lark, with subsequent legislative changes that seem to be designed for the benefit of Italian hunters. There is certainly a direction aimed at transforming the country into a large reserve dedicated to hunters and poachers of our parts. Lark and small bird hunting is among other things a practice largely unknown to Romanians, and once again, unfortunately, we export a very bad habit ”.
Respected and much loved in Romania, the lark inspires a famous aria, Lie, ciocarlie, by George Enescu. Therefore, having made a video in which the beautiful mezzo-soprano Andreea Ilie is shot to death just as she interprets the song, the Societatea Ornitologica Romana - Birdlife and the Natura 2000 Romania association launched the Salveaza ciocarlia website, as well as a petition addressed to the Parliament to ask that the unworthy law not be passed.
“We have before our eyes the rapid rarefaction of some species that were once common: lark, wild dove, quail” says Bamberghi “while the European Directive on the conservation of birds requires the establishment of strict protection criteria, in order to guarantee their survival. Hunting activity must therefore take place in a controlled manner and it is intolerable that Italian hunters go abroad to carry out massacres. In particular with regard to the skylark in Italy, in recent years, the Regions have established restricted limits of daily and seasonal game bags: going to Romania to kill hundreds a day, with the use of prohibited means (even there) such as electro-acoustic calls, is criminal " .
Ovidiu Bufnila observes: “This is not a strictly Romanian problem, but an international one. If these hunting journeys continue, Europe risks losing all its songbirds. We are fighting on one front, but also on the opposite one, in Italy, a strong commitment is needed. If the new law were to pass, in addition to the lark, the entire passerine population would suffer. Already now ”he continues“ the politicians want to extend the duration of the wildlife plans from ten to sixteen years. On the other hand, updates are indispensable for conservation: here, for example, only one hundred specimens of barn goose survive, but the huntable quota has remained compared to a population of 27 thousand individuals, being among other things an umbrella species ". That is to say that, to persecute it, we end up hitting others, see the very rare red-necked goose, or the lesser lombardella.
In 2001 the Italian State Forestry Corps seized 12 tons of songbirds from Romania, and in 2009 in Balta Mare an Italian poacher was arrested: he had more than two thousand killed larks with him. There were several thousand larks, hats and quails in the hands of fifteen poachers from our country arrested in 2010 in Braila. And again, in 2011, Hungarian customs officials intercepted a load of 11 thousand larks killed in Romania, against the 5.400 detained by an Italian arrested in Ialomita in 2013.
(May 6, 2015)
Source: Repubblica - IlRichiamodellaForestaBlog