Hunting in Tuscany: The hunting calendar passes which for safety provides more visible clothes for those who are part of wild boar teams. The competences assigned to the Provinces that will decide the wildlife plans and in the presence of damage to agriculture, the slaughter of wild boars throughout the year.
Florence - Here comes the hunting reform, through important changes to the previous law 3/1994 which incorporated the 'Rules for the protection of homeothermic wildlife and hunting ”. The basic concept changes precisely, as it starts from the interest of the rural world, also attributing financial interventions to the programming envisaged by the Regional Agricultural Plan (PAR). The technical-scientific principle on which every decision for future hunting planning will revolve will be that of 'sustainable hunting density' of game.
Objective: to limit the damage to agricultural production and rebalance the presence of different animal species on the territory. First of all, the uncontrolled proliferation of ungulates is stopped. In 1994, when the old law was approved, wild boar, roe deer, fallow deer, red deer and mouflons were not very common species and did not cause damage to agriculture and woods. At the center of the whole new administrative system there will be the Provincial Administrations to which the Region has delegated local planning and operational management.
The Provinces will authorize the killing of wild boars at any time of the year, even on snow-covered grounds. Always, in case of damage to crops and livestock, it will also be possible to shoot at starling, eastern collared dove and city pigeons.
“We have given a precise answer to an emerging problem - he declared Aldo Manetti (Prc), president of the Agriculture Commission and majority speaker -, putting the agricultural world at the center of interest, in a serious moment of economic crisis, regulating hunting activities differently. This law, once the presence of ungulates in Tuscany has been remodeled, can be remodeled in a few years. For this reason, once the new path has begun, it is essential to subject it to study, scientific verification, data retrieval and greater checks, in order to evaluate the correct and useful application of the standard, also for its possible modification ".
The reform goes deeper and involves the territorial realities more, as all the matter of planning and programming is remodeled, including that of the Territorial Areas of Hunting (ATC), with the total competence attributed to the Provinces. A share of the provincial agro-forestry-pastoral territory of not less than 20 and not more than 30 percent must be allocated to the protection of wildlife: on the remaining areas not subject to other destinations, ATCs for programmed hunting can be created ( according to precise rules of balance between areas and oases of protection or repopulation and capture), the centers for the reproduction of game, the wildlife hunting and agritourism-hunting farms, the dog training areas. The activities carried out by the ATCs are entrusted to specific management committees which determine the access of hunters and the intervention programs for environmental improvement as well as the disbursement of contributions for the prevention and compensation of game damage.
The reference tool will be the 'Provincial wildlife hunting plan'. With this plan, the Provinces also allocate the resources to be allocated to the various planned actions. The 'Annual management plan' of the provincial administrations will then make every activity operational.
The standard also indicates the rules for the creation of wildlife-hunting farms and farm-hunting farms (with a minimum of 100 hectares), access and hunting methods within them, which may also take place with farmed game.
The municipal police force will also be used for the surveillance of the hunting activity, as well as security guards and forest and rural guards of the Mountain Communities. While for the voluntary and voluntary environmental hunting guards (GAV) an adequate preparation on the reference legislation is foreseen, as for the examination for the firearms license of the hunt. Among the two main novelties: the possibility of marketing game in Tuscan festivals and gastronomic events (in compliance with the health laws for slaughtering); the creation of the Observatory for fauna and hunting and the regional advisory commission.
“We have managed to clear the field of two extreme concepts: hunting everywhere and no hunting. Also to cope with the emergency ungulates - said Manetti - that cause damage to agriculture, woods and often to motorists, given the many accidents that have occurred. In this way, we try not to make the imbalance that has arisen between species and in some areas irreversible. Certainly - concluded the president of the Agriculture Commission - when the hunts are loosened, there may be some danger, for this reason it is necessary to observe and control what will happen ”.
The law on the hunting calendar provides for both the hunting period (from the 3rd week of September to 31 January) and the obligation to wear highly visible clothing (the so-called phosphorescent vests) for hunters participating in the boar teams.
Source: The Parliament of Tuscany