La LIPU (Italian Bird Protection League) wished to comment on the deletion of the State Forestry Corps as a police force and that of the provinces (with the consequent cancellation of the Provincial Police), two factors that could, according to the association, generate confusion and illegality in the hunting field. Among other things, for the LIPU hunting controls are limited only to volunteer guards and little else. The reference therefore went to the phenomenon of poaching which endangers the life of wild animals and protected species. The League, then, has not at all "digested" the decision of the Renzi government extending de facto tenuousness to many of the crimes committed against wildlife: in this way serious acts would be filed, such as the killing of protected species or the use of means that are prohibited for hunting.
The picture that emerges according to the LIPU depicts a negative season for Italian environmental law e a situation that could make our country risk an infringement of EU laws. The fewer controls would have in fact increased illegality and more serious poaching episodes, in particular the killing of storks, herons, hawks, buzzards, kites, sparrow hawks and other nocturnal birds of prey. As he explained Fulvio Mamone Capria, number one of LIPU-BirdLife Italy, the situation is worrying to say the least.
The government is responsible for what is happening, also because it is underestimating the problem in a guilty way. In addition, it gets even worse if you think that our country is subject to the Brussels procedure known as Eu-Pilot, which in the past contested the Italian weakness as regards the hunting monitoring and control system. The president's opinion is that the State and the Regions have done nothing to improve the system we are talking about, on the contrary, it was even worse: this bad result would in fact be the result of irresponsible choices that are causing more than negative consequences.
This is why the LIPU cannot tolerate more than nature being treated so badly and has started the work of drafting a specific dossier that will be sent to the European Commission and explaining what is happening, so that urgent action can be obtained. The note from the League ends with an appreciation of the early closure of the 2015-2016 hunting season decided by the Council of Ministers last January 15 in relation to thrushes, woodcocks and cesene, despite the cancellation of some species in a bad state of conservation from the list of those that can be hunted.