Hunting Calendar of Emilia Romagna: protests by hunters, contradictions and "new disputes on the way".
The regional councilor of Emilia Romagna, Luca Bartolini, after having received the protests of the hunters, highlighted some contradictions contained in the regional hunting calendar and said critically, "Hunting in Emilia-Romagna means carrying out a passion in the fullest uncertainty: and for we must say this thanks to the anti-hunting offices of the Region, filled with fundamentalist environmentalists who can't wait to complicate the life of hunters ”.
Continuing Bartolini, he underlined, "It is a Calendar that following a sentence of the Constitutional Court can no longer be done by law but only an administrative act of the junta, therefore at the risk of appeals to the TAR, but above all a document that does not pass from Regional Council, where with a serious debate we could have improved the text ”.
The first negative effects of what was elaborated by the “regional anti-hunting offices” and reproposed as it is by the council, will hit the hunters of the wetlands thanks to the article 9 of the Hunting Calendar containing the prescriptions in this regard.
Criticizing article 9 of the Calendar, Councilor Bartolini explained, "The hunting calendar prohibits the use of lead shot ammunition also to hunt within natural and artificial wetlands, that is ponds, swamps, marshes, oxbow lakes, flooded lagoons and meadows therefore require the use of steel shot cartridges, which until last year were mandatory only for SPAs (Special Protection Areas) ”.
Continuing on the question Bartolini added, "Those who have adopted this prescription to protect animals have made a mistake: with steel shot you have a useful shot of about twenty meters but, unlike lead, you do not have a short pellini and therefore there are many animals that are injured but not killed, this is a damage to the fauna. Other Regions, after having imposed the use of steel shot in recent years, have now retraced their steps ”.
Furthermore, according to Bartolini, the prescription for ammunition to be used in wetlands can create confusion for both hunters and control bodies, in fact, he explained, "The ban on the use of lead shot is extended to a radius of 50 meters from outermost banks. But the wetlands are not tabulated: therefore a hunter, set off to hunt normally, outside a wetland and therefore with the possibility of using lead ammunition, risks finding himself inside these areas without realizing it and if he runs into a control he risks a penalty. ".
Continuing on, Bartolini said, “The contradictions are not over. Let's say a hunter is two hundred meters from a humid area, so he can use lead shot; fires in the direction of a lake, the range is greater than 50 meters and, if it hits the prey that falls within the wetland, the hunter is at fault. And then it is not clear how to do it for those who have mixed cartridges, that is for those who want to hunt, on the same day, both inside and outside the wetland: perhaps you want to force the hunter to go home to leave the lead cartridges if he wants to shoot. near a lake? "
The regional councilor, expressing his fear, then stated, "In short, the risk is to have a large number of disputes, also because, for the umpteenth time in our Region, the legislation must be interpreted and the hunter must trust in common sense. of the hunting guard ".
Finally, Bartolini concluded, "The point is that clear rules must be established, compatible with hunting and that do not penalize anyone: a hunter cannot leave the house to practice a passion and always be in the doubt of not being in order as he does. a few years it happens more and more in our Region ”.