Mouflon issue
Il mouflon it is a mammal that is well present and normally subject to hunting throughout central Europe. Originally from the Middle and Near East, it was introduced to the Mediterranean islands (Cyprus, Sardinia and Corsica) about 7.000 years ago. From these islands it has recently been introduced to the peninsula and to Europe, where it has reached a remarkable consistency, thriving in mixed and broad-leaved woods. It is good to remember that on the continent the majority of the populations present are the result of very recent introductions, which took place after 1970 and originated from the Miemo Wildlife-Hunting Company, in the province of Pisa. Even in our country, the species is taken under a selection hunting regime, or through the assignment of a sampling plan divided into sex and age classes. The size and structure of the population, on which the sampling plans are calibrated, are obtained following scrupulous censuses carried out by selection hunters (hunters who have obtained a specific qualification with the passing of an exam) coordinated by wildlife technicians. Just like roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, chamois ...
Withdrawal regime
So already in this the mouflons of the Island of Giglio, which are not a very rare subspecies to be protected at any cost, can be taken in selective hunting regime like the other ungulates hunted every year in Italy. If we really want to find a difference, it is that there is an eradication program for the mouflons of the Giglio Island, that is, the population present on the island - a few dozen specimens - must be completely eliminated. And in fact the Tuscany Region, in full compliance with current regulations, has authorized the collection. Are the above arguments hunters? No. The owners of any vegetable garden where they eat zucchini? Neither. They are from ISPRA, which confirms the opinion issued in 2012 by the then INFS, the same technical-scientific institute, which even then authorized the Region of Tuscany to eradicate mouflons. What is ISPRA? the less accustomed to hunting and management issues will ask, who by chance had come this far. It is the Institute that in our country must issue opinions for everything concerning environmental and wildlife-hunting management.
Scientific principles
That Institute in a nutshell which is the Supreme Judge for animal rights believers when it takes away hunting days and closes the sampling of species in total contrast with the decisions taken by its counterparts in the rest of Europe, but which suddenly becomes unreliable, partisan and without technical scientific knowledge if he says yes, those 37 animals must be removed from there. Once again we are in fact faced with the usual animal-environmentalist confessional position, which sacrifices any scientific principle on the altar of ideology and demagogy, proposing solutions that are unacceptable from a technical point of view or useless and expensive, so much so that they do not pay them but the citizenship. , riding the wave of cloying pietism. As Dr. Piero Genovesi, head of fauna of ISPRA and project manager of the Life ASAP European project to stop alien and invasive species to protect biodiversity, recalled in an interview with Giglionews "All the scientific evidence confirms that mouflons are among the invasive alien species that they cause significant impacts to natural habitats and the effects are particularly severe in islands, which are extremely fragile and vulnerable ecosystems.
Plants threatened
From Hawaii to the Canary Islands, wherever this ungulate has been introduced, the effects on biodiversity are severe, both for feeding activity and for trampling. At least 50 plant species in the world are threatened by this species and in a recent global analysis of the impacts of allochthonous ungulates, the mouflon was the species with the most serious negative effects ". As for the LAV threats to denounce hunters who proceeded with the collection of mouflons on the Giglio Island, we can reiterate that they are devoid of any content and substance as they are aimed at authorized subjects and an activity provided for by regional and state regulations. And if these threats could constitute criminal findings, we leave it to our lawyers, Federcaccia will act accordingly! Let the animal rights Taliban put their souls at peace, and instead of looking to the good of the single sheep, let them look to that of the whole flock! FEDERCACCIA IS SOLIDARITY WITH THE TUSCAN REGION FOR THE PRESSURES TO WHICH IT IS SUBJECTED AND STRONGLY ASKS NOT TO DEPAIR ITS HERITAGE TYPICAL OF THE MANAGEMENT CULTURE. HERITAGE THAT WILL HAVE TO INFORM ALL THE REGULATORY PRODUCTION OF EVERYONE IF WE WOULD LIKE TO BE USEFUL TO THE ENVIRONMENT! SUSTAINABILITY IS NOT THE DAUGHTER OF EMOTION!