Hunting in Tuscany. Ungulate emergency, the only solution is hunting

Hunting in Tuscany. Ungulate emergency, hunting is the only solution

Hunting in Tuscany: Ungulates, it is necessary to hunt them, only after the control of the fauna. Very attended meeting and full of interventions on the serious problem of ungulates in the territory of Fiesole and in Tuscany in general.

"The only solution is hunting, because we must drastically reduce the number of these animals, the control can only be subsequent" and in the district of Fiesole-Pontassieve there are about a thousand wild boars, which take refuge in the municipal areas in which the ban on hunting.

The Mayor Anna Ravoni and the Councilor for Economic Development with responsibility for Agriculture Iole Piscolla brought together experts and politicians in Fiesole to take stock of the situation of ungulates in the municipal area, in order to bring attention to a problem strongly felt by the population and look for the best solutions to solve it. 'The choice is between keeping our biosphere up or killing it' this was the strong statement of the Regional Councilor for Agriculture Gianni Salvadori, present yesterday at the meeting on 'Wild ungulates: criticalities and perspectives of the Fiesole area'.

To make a first point on the situation was the Regional Councilor who provided the emergency numbers in Tuscany. We have 400.000 ungulates, divided between wild boars and deer, a population that is four times higher in density than the European average and three times higher than the Italian average (data provided by Berzi, wildlife technician), this number must be halved, because it generates an imbalance in the environment that kills nature. In fact, due to this overpopulation we have already lost many small species.

For this reason, by the end of his mandate, Salvadori intends to change the hunting calendar, including the culling classes for deer and then to reduce the number of ATCs from 19 to 9 to give new impetus to the hunting activity, which has a fundamental role to restore the fauna balance.

Salvadori did not hide the problems that the Tuscany Region had with Ispra (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research), strongly denouncing that this body, responsible for authorizing the killing of harmful animals, chooses not to decide. Salvadori also specified that he hopes in the future Ispra will assume responsibility, even in judicial proceedings, for these non-decisions.

Also the Provincial Councilor for the Environment, Renzo Crescioli, referring to Ispra, specified that this institute works based on a law that protects the species and since his opinion is mandatory, it slows down the needs of our Region for killing.

Among other things, the Tuscany Region has numbers that are not comparable with the national ones and having the largest wooded area in Europe, ungulates find a suitable environment for proliferation.

In the Province there are an estimated 28.000 animals and a culling plan for 14.000 animals is planned. It is necessary to act, in synergy between institutions and citizens, in order to stem this problem which is becoming explosive, with economic damage and road accidents caused by these animals, whose data is very underestimated according to Crescioli.

Berzi underlined the situation of faunal instability in which we are, which not even the increasingly widespread presence of the wolf can keep under control. He too underlines, in agreement with Sandro Nicoloso and Alfredo Bresciani, the need for recourse to hunters, who, however, are fewer and fewer and have an ever higher average age.

Bresciani and Nicoloso also reported their experiences of fauna containment with mixed results, despite the use of different methods. At the end of the meeting, Councilor Piscolla made an appointment for the next conference on the subject, which will become a custom of the Fiesole administration and announced the imminent birth of the Council dedicated to agriculture.
Nove editorial office from Florence

Nove.firenze.it

06.11.2014