Barbara Mazzali, Lombardy regional councilor of Fratelli d'Italia, issued a statement regarding yet another animal rights appeal: "Animal rights activists say they want to save the territory, but they are actually destroying it. Enpa, Lav and Lac have filed an appeal to the TAR against the fox containment plan 2019/2023 in province of Lodi this was followed by the immediate suspension of the culls. We have to explain to the animal rights activists, who should be the experts, what happens in an area where wild animals are out of control.
Foxes are at the top of the food chain, being carnivorous predators. If their number increases excessively, the biodiversity of the indigenous fauna is endangered, given that the animals preyed upon (in particular hares and pheasants) they will suffer a sharp collapse. I don't know if animal activists think in terms of the "beauty" of the animal and therefore consider the fox more deserving to live than the pheasant, but nature says that a species cannot proliferate excessively without creating serious damage to others. Added to this is the risk of a hydraulic disaster created by fox holes, which are often dug along river banks and which significantly weaken the structures.
Needless to say what the damage may be caused by the subsidence of the embankments to the territory, to agriculture and also to inhabited centers near waterways. The regional containment plan was developed precisely to protect the territory and keep the native fauna in balance. But animal rights activists obviously do not care about all this. The regional council had made a useful provision and now an entire province is at risk for the appeal of some animal rights activist who thinks foxes are house animals. It is absurd and unacceptable. It is time that the serious politics take decisions against these measures to safeguard the security of all of us and of our territory ".