President Cuccu: "Ispra identifies the island as a repository for radioactive waste, but does not consider the universe of hunters".
"The hunting season that ends in January once again penalizes hunters who suffer severe injustice due to a hunting calendar restrictive and reductive with respect to the specificities of Sardinia ". This is the cry of alarm launched by Bonifacio Cuccu - president of the Union of Sardinia hunters - who does not hesitate to contest the failure to lengthen the island's hunting calendar. The postponement of the motion presented by the councilor Modesto Fenu, with the exit from the majority, has in fact undermined the hopes of over 40 thousand Sardinian hunters. A mockery. The hard stance of the association is in the facts.
“It seems absurd - he contests - Our Island is plagued by a thousand difficulties. Schools falling apart, roads reduced to trenches with connections from the third world, transport to the Peninsula with exorbitant prices, youth unemployment. In this context, the hunting sector is one of the few segments that guarantees the Region an economic inducement of enormous proportions. Not only for the increasingly high taxes paid by our members, but also for the turnover that hunting generates from a tourist and environmental point of view and with the control of the forest and rural landscape ”.
It is not enough, the thrush hunting remains open in nearby Corsica: “With peculiarities similar to Sardinia. It is not clear why in our reality it closes in January. This will lead to the exodus of hundreds of hunters to France ”.
Then there is the paradox of Ispra, the higher institute for environmental protection and research. “On the one hand it dictates the rules to ban hunting in Sardinia in January - explains Cuccu - with incomprehensible constraints, on the other it indicates the island as a possible site for locating radioactive waste. A disaster. A situation that would bring enormous disasters from an environmental point of view, re-proposing nuclear dangers such as Chernobyl. This fact is inconceivable for all Sardinians, who aim to protect the environment. From this point of view, hunters are the first to pay great attention to the protection of the landscape ”.
Another sore point with respect to the environment: “I have been involved in hunting for years - concludes Cuccu, representative of the movement that brings together thousands of Sardinian hunters - I have never seen our island in a state of irreversible degradation. The commissioner for the environment Spano should make an inspection at the entrance of Sassari to carefully observe the now devastated hills. Or think about the lack of reclamation of the industries that then left the territory bringing only pollution and damage. In this scenario, there are many young Sardinians who await glimmers of light for the future, with a flight abroad of the leading professionals. This is why hunters are tired of this trend, since it does not consider itself a sector capable of giving new opportunities to Sardinia with enormous potential from an economic point of view. We solicit proper attention from the Giunta to the hunting world, with criteria of balance and proportionality with respect to other realities such as Corsica and other regions of the peninsula ".
16.01.2015