Hunting to pests: Lombardy, the Regional Council gives the green light to the hunt for otters to be practiced by any means and in any place and time of the year in order to eliminate the problem.
Said and done. Lombardy declares war on the otters by any means, including the slingshot or the crossbow. As anticipated in recent days, zero tolerance for otters has been triggered: the Regional Council has given the definitive go-ahead to the law that allows you to eliminate these rodents, accused of damaging crops and waterways, even with guns. by individual throwing (slingshots and bows, for example), gas, sterilizing them or trapping them and knocking them down with narcotic or compressed air weapons.
The otters, about 2 million specimens on the regional territory, can be eliminated at any time of the year and also in areas where the hunting. The text, of which the NCD advisor Carlo Malvezzi was rapporteur and which was approved with the yes of the center-right and center-left groups and the abstention of the M5S, provides that the Provinces until the end of 2014 will deal with both the containment of otrie both of the collection and disposal of animal carcasses.
From 2015 the regional council will prepare a three-year program. Compared to the provisions of the text approved in the commission, the allocation to implement the plans in 2014 will not be more than 420 thousand euros but 150 thousand euros, of which 15 thousand will be used by the provinces to provide for the methods of abatement and containment, 55 thousand for collection and disposal of carcasses and 80 thousand to monitor the results. Research into more effective methods of solving the problem and repairing the damage will no longer be funded, as was originally planned, as national legislation no longer classifies otters in wildlife.
The M5S abstained from voting on the regional law "Containment of nutria" after the Regional Council rejected the M5S amendments which had the sole objective of improving the law by placing an emphasis on the issue of citizens' safety. The otters must be contained with systems that do not jeopardize the safety of the population. The bill passed in the classroom signed by all political forces, except M5S, unfortunately gives the green light to the culling of the nutria at all times of the year, throughout the region, with tools such as common firearms, weapons from individual launch, controlled gasification, controlled sterilization and trapping.
The problem, especially for firearms and throwing weapons, is the absence in law of restrictions of any kind, both in terms of proximity to homes and times in which the activity is allowed, and the clear recognition of those who use firearms. I shoot to take down the otters. In this sense, there are no clear provisions for the provincial and regional containment plans. "For the M5S - declares the regional spokesman Giampietro Maccabiani - to guarantee the safety of citizens and public order, our suggestions had to be taken into consideration, namely the establishment of pre-established zones, periods and times, the adoption of a jacket high visibility, compliance with the prohibitions for hunting, coordination with universities and research centers, as well as the study of the use of native predators. But this was not the case, and the Five Star Movement does not support a law that risks putting Lombard citizens in danger. "
November 27, 2014
Source: Quotidiano.net - ComunicatoStampa M5S