Hunting in Emilia Romagna: the TAR of Parma has suspended wild boar hunting in the province of Piacenza, accepting the request of the environmentalists who have filed an appeal. Farmers are against it.
In recent days, the Parma Regional Administrative Court has suspended wild boar hunting in the province of Piacenza, accepting an urgent suspension request contextual to the appeal of the environmentalists of the hunting victims association and by Animal Liberation, on a national basis, against the early opening the hunting of wild boar species in September instead of 1 October in derogation of the national law.
The judges of the TAR decreed the suspension without giving the Provincial Administration the opportunity to clarify their reasons for the choice to anticipate the boar hunt provided for by the provincial Hunting Calendar. The rest of the hunting activity will continue as per the Calendar but the boar hunts must be suspended until the beginning of October.
According to the environmentalists of Legambiente, LIPU and WWF, different forms of hunting should be implemented to tackle the problem and they ask for a discussion with the parties and affirm in their own note on the issue:
The appeal to the TAR of Parma presented by the association of hunting victims and Animal Liberation, at national level, against the early opening of the boar hunt in September and the granting of the suspension does not leave us at all surprised.
In fact, for years in Piacenza, team boar hunting has been authorized since September, despite the national and regional law providing for it to start from 169 October. This year Ispra gave a negative opinion to the advance but in spite of this the Province still maintained the beginning of XNUMX motivating it with the need to reduce both the hunting pressure on other species such as the hare and the use of control interventions outside of the hunting season, lending the side to the appeal.
Since in the province there is a serious problem of management of this species, we hope that this recourse can be a stimulus to the Province, to the hunting associations and to the Farmers to seriously face it once and for all, as we have been asking for years, unheard. This could also be the occasion to finally approve the regulation on boar hunting that has been lying in the drawers of the Councilor Pozzi's office for years.
It is a fact that for years in Piacenza, despite the presence of over 25 teams for more than a thousand hunters, hunting from mid-September to December and countless team interventions from control plans throughout the year throughout the province, even in areas prohibited from hunting, the problem of damage to crops and biodiversity from wild boar increases instead of decreasing and the number also, a clear sign that the management of the species is now almost entirely entrusted to teams that only practice driven hunts it is not effective.
As associations we recognize both the concerns of farmers and the serious damage to the environment that these animals, often crossed with pigs and placed for hunting purposes, create and for this reason we finally ask that different forms of hunting begin to be implemented in Piacenza. such as the turn, for example, which have less impact on public safety and certainly more aimed at a real reduction in the number of animals, especially in areas with a high population and agricultural density.
There is now a vast literature on the types of hunting more or less suitable for a real control of the species and it is time to apply them seriously, stopping to leave a free hand to those who have no real interest in seeing the number of animals to hunt decrease. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, we believe that a serious confrontation between the parties is increasingly necessary.