In recent days, agencies and press organizations have reproposed data from environmental associations (LIPU and WWF) on the impact of poaching on birds in Italy and in 25 other Mediterranean countries. In particular, for our country, the data provided by the LIPU indicate a minimum of 3,4 and a maximum of 7,8 million birds killed or illegally captured per year. Not recent data, as they refer to the period July 2014-June 2015, published in 2016 in the journal Bird Conservation International (Brochet et al., 2016). In this singular statistic, Italy is presented in the company of countries such as Malta, Cyprus, Egypt and Lebanon, and essentially an administrative and government situation out of control is attributed to our country in terms of preventing and combating the phenomenon of poaching. also in relation to the number of inhabitants (0,09 specimens per inhabitant per year).
It should be noted, however, that poaching is given a very broad definition, from the international trade in protected species to the "abusive" collection carried out in North Africa for food purposes, from the illegitimate collection for taxidermy purposes to the culling of specimens not included in the hunting calendars. Undeniably, this is an important and likely increasing phenomenon, also taking into account the current state of strong reduction in the personnel of the supervisory bodies in charge (Provincial Police and reorganization undergone by the former CFS). However, we need to clarify. First, what has been reported is a preliminary estimate made on the basis of the opinion of ornithological experts contacted by Bird Life International (for Italy the LIPU): it is therefore not real data. Secondly, the quality of information is defined by this same work as highly variable, subject to considerable uncertainty on some estimates, and characterized by a clear scarcity of data considered reliable.
For Italy, the numerically most affected species would be the sparrow, the finch (which would hold the absolute record of illegal withdrawals, with an estimated between 2 and 3 million specimens per year, or about 50% of all withdrawals contested), the song thrush, the skylark, the pipit (with 500.000-900.000 specimens), the robin, the goldfinch, the starling, the little luì (and this appears truly surprising), the frosone (100.000-400.000) and the redwing (50.000-300.000).
These figures are completely unlikely, especially in the case of the finch and pipit. And who would be those "madmen" who, by the tens of thousands, would habitually risk criminal penalties (Article 30, paragraph h, Law no. 157 / '92), for example, with "fine of up to 1.549 euros for those who kill, capture or hold finches in excess of five"? In fact, to take 2-3 million finches and 500-900 thousand pipits, many thousands of people willing to risk for many days a year would be needed. And for what senseless reason? All of this is frankly impossible in the entity declared by BirdLife's estimate.
The case of the killing of even a few specimens of rare species is different. A reality that, unfortunately, sometimes turns out to be the subject of news (one of all the hermit ibis). But how are things really?
Since March 2017, Italy has adopted an Action Plan to combat the illegal killings of birds and, at the Ministry of the Environment and the Protection of the Territory and the Sea, a technical-operational table has been set up to implement and monitor the Plan itself. Note the multitude of authorities and figures involved: Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Agricultural Policies, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Education, all Regions and Autonomous Provinces, Carabinieri (former CFS ), CITES Management Authority, INTERPOL, Valle d'Aosta Region Forestry Corps, Sardinia Region Forestry Corps, Lazio and Tuscany Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute - National Center for Forensic Veterinary Medicine, ISPRA, environmental and hunting associations. After a year of work by this Group, only one thing is clear: the very limited availability of objective data on the phenomenon of poaching in Italy. In fact, there is a table with data relating to only 12 Regions (2015), from which it is possible to deduce that 9.796 Agents have drawn up 9.306 reports (0,95 each) for each type of alleged infringement, of which only 28,7% resulted in an administrative sanction and 9,7% in a criminal sanction. Even if these objective data refer to just over half of the regions, and are not directly correlated to a precise number of birds killed or illegally captured, it is quite clear that they (the only ones officially available in Italy) are completely inconsistent with the numbers of millions of birds that the estimates of the aforementioned study by Brochet would like to assign to our country.
The fight against poaching must obviously be increased, starting with the restoration of adequate levels of vigilance, as also requested by the hunting associations. Very decisive interventions are required in particular when the phenomenon involves threatened species or is connoted as a real illegal trade in these same species (for example, the removal of eggs and nestlings of birds of prey destined for falconry in Arab countries or in North Africa). Ultimately, our assessment is that it is necessary to distinguish, in the context of combating poaching, on the basis of the impact it has on the conservation status of the species; on these we must concentrate our efforts and direct new resources in a short time. Otherwise, there is a risk of producing paper documents and proposing ineffective actions in hitting the most serious situations in the field of conservation. Unfortunately, the recent alarmist campaigns promoted by environmental associations seem to have the primary objective of attacking not poachers, but Italian hunters and hunters. Continuing on the path of confrontation and concrete proposals, we hope and work for a position taken in the direction described above by the Italian authorities and institutions