La hunting season it is now preparing to enter its most beautiful weeks, the winter ones, in which the crunch of the dry leaves now covered by the frost accompany the hunter's step in the woods. A reflection requires the attention of society as a whole, not just of us hunters. Hunting in Italy it is one of the most regulated activities. Being hunters implies being honest citizens, with an absolutely white criminal certificate. A minimum suspicion by the authorities or a complaint, even unfounded, by a third party makes it possible to revoke the license. It means paying out hundreds of euros every year, including renewals, ATC, insurance, authorizations.
Despite this, public opinion not only does not appreciate our work, but even criminalizes our passion by degrading it to an ethically incorrect activity, bordering on the illegal.
But have you ever thought about what would happen if we all stopped hunting for a year?
Have we ever thought about the invasion of pests that often cause irreparable damage to crops that still represent an important slice of the national gross domestic product today? He never honestly opened his eyes to the problem of boars, who have now lost all aspects of wildness and eat our products on the doorstep? Perhaps we would be recalled and paid to control the exponential growth of wild animals and, therefore, of consequent damage) that would be created.
It is very easy to criminalize what you do not know and with which you do not come into contact on a daily basis, if not on television or through a PC screen. The rules governing hunting they are too often done by those who do not have direct contact with nature and the environment in general. By those who live in a city, where at best only domestic pigeons can survive.
THEItaly a rural town was born and remains, where traditions, such as hunting, still well rooted in some areas, arise as a response to concrete needs for managing human life and the environment in which it has entered. I am convinced that if it was the citizens who had to pay for the damage caused by wild boar and roe deer to the vineyards and crops, and not the savings of the hunters, then perhaps greater respect would be given to an activity that plays a fundamental role in maintaining a balance of the ecosystem otherwise beyond any control.