Starlings: Hunting has opened in derogation of starlings in the Brindisi area, but the damage is already many
Certainly, the time is not yet ripe to draw up a first, provisional assessment of the usefulness that has already been derived from the hunting notwithstanding the starlings, granted by the Puglia Region starting from last December 5th and until the end of the hunting season, set for January 31st.
In fact, since hunting is only allowed on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays, three days just are certainly not enough to understand if the problem of starlings destroying crops can somehow be solved (or, at least, attenuated). And, therefore, to ascertain whether the farmers "harassed" by the raging of hundreds of thousands of similar birds will benefit from quantitatively less damage.
The starlings, in fact, as is now quite common, due to their exaggerated proliferation, are quite harmful and continually cause great damage to the olive crops (as well as to the vegetables) of the entire province, in fact penalizing one of the local productions par excellence of the our territory, or the extra virgin olive oil. It is no coincidence, moreover, that the associations of farmers and small growers - in addition to submitting requests for compensation for damage suffered in previous years - had long urged the preparation of tools to deal with this scourge, appealing in particular the need to derogate from the relevant legislation, which establishes the hunting ban on certain species, including the transfers.
Accepting the heartfelt invitation of the agricultural world - while doing, at the same time, a "wrong" to the environmental associations which, for their obvious interests, had immediately opposed hunting in derogation - the Puglia Region decided to do so on 1 December , along the same lines as what happened last year. In 2008, however, as agricultural associations complained, this instrument was granted with a little delay and the resulting benefits did not exactly live up to expectations. Also for this reason, despite the undoubted satisfaction for what was decided by the Region, fears and perplexities remain quite alive, especially in consideration of the fact that the damage has already been perpetrated in large quantities on all the crops of the provincial territory (after all, it is sufficient look up to get an idea of how many thousands of starlings flit ... with impunity in our skies).
"We just have to hope that at least they will be cut down to a significant extent so that their destructive force is reduced", comment farmers today, waiting to be more aware of the concrete benefits that will derive from hunting in derogation of birds. It should be remembered that, in order to shoot starlings (obviously in areas where hunting is permitted by law, with the exception of woods and reeds, with the stalking method), it is mandatory to have the appropriate card (a specific one, not the ordinarily usable in other cases), prepared by the Puglia Region and issued by the Municipality of residence, at the request of the interested party. In addition, although the withdrawal is granted by way of derogation, quantitative limits are set for no more than 20 head per day for a maximum of 180 head for the entire season for each license holder. Obviously, the wish of the farmers is that hunting in derogation… whet the "appetite" of as many hunters as possible, so that the starling colony is numerically reduced in a reasonable amount. Moreover, it is also understandable that they are aiming at this goal, if only because, with the crisis already looming over the sector, relieving themselves of this further element of difficulty would be almost like… a manna from heaven.
Di PIERLUIGI Poti
Source: La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno