The Northern League disputes the excessive and constant presence, as well as the work, of the Anti-poaching Operational Unit of the State Forestry Corps in the Brescia valleys.
With the beginning of the hunting season, the controversy concerning every aspect of hunting increases, in particular the episodes of poaching or considered as such. In the Brescia area, many hunters linked to ancient traditions consider the practice of fowling just like a tradition, struggling to consider it a crime.
Consequently, for these nostalgics, the missions of the Anti-poaching Operational Unit of the State Forestry Corps are considered an interference and an obstacle to the freedom to practice a local tradition such as fowling which, however, is considered a crime. Precisely in the province of Brescia there is a greater tradition, illegal, of bows and other traps for small migratory birds intended above all for trade aimed at typical traditional gastronomy.
Political exponents of the Northern League have mobilized with a collection of signatures to ask the government to cancel NOA's anti-poaching operations; the popular petition was organized yesterday, October 22, in the square in Collio in the province of Brescia right in Valtrompia where, following the Forestry Operation "Pettirosso", 97 poachers were identified and reported in addition to other 93 communications of crime news and the seizure of 4.500 bows, traps and nets in the Brescia area at the disposal of the Brescia Public Prosecutor's Office.
For the occasion, the deputy Davide Caparini presented a question on the matter to the Ministry of Agriculture on which the Noa depends; the initiative of the Northern League does not want to contest the effective presence of Noa in the province but the fact that "the forest guards are flanked with irritable and questionable procedures by groups of volunteers, including foreigners, who claim the right to carry out activities entrusted to the police".
The regional councilor Alessandro Marelli also focuses on the problem of wasting public resources and comments critically: “There is no need for NOA in areas already manned by the foresters of the Brescia detachments and by provincial and local police officers. The anti-poaching campaign costs 50 euros per month. It would be more appropriate to invest this money in priority activities of the local forestry corps ”. The League then challenged the approach with behaviors considered "harassing and inquisitive of the agents of the Noa towards the local population".
Although the thought is common among the exponents of the League and a part of the population of the Brescia valleys, the Government does not seem to have the same idea and so, on the occasion of the recent celebrations for the 189th anniversary of the State Forestry Corps, the Minister of Agricultural Policies, Saverio Romano, reiterated that NOA is “a strategic defense in the defense of nature and the environmental treasures of the community”.
Furthermore, since the beginning of this year the the men of the Forestry Corps were officially included in the staff of the judicial police sections of the prosecutors of all Italy thus bringing greater efficiency in the fight against crimes such as poaching and fowling.
The former Minister of Agricultural Policies, Giancarlo Galan, already in full swing of the functions deriving from the Department responsible for the Forestry Corps, seemed to anticipate the responses to today's Northern League controversies by specifying that the NOA is a structure of the Forestry that “directs and coordinates the anti-poaching operations at national level“.
Furthermore the activities of the NOA do not involve any increase in expenditure as, according to Galan, everything is already foreseen at the national level for anti-poaching activities in Italy and no additional funds are allocated. Finally, Galan emphasized the professionalism and full compliance with the rules by the men of the NOA and their auxiliaries.