SARDINIA, HUNT FOR BOAR: After the last serious incidents that occurred to some Gallura hunters, someone begins to reflect on the possibility of adopting different behaviors. Everyone agrees to make caution the first rule to avoid risks to their own life and that of others. - The hunters: "Too many wrong behaviors"
C 'was once there big game: a close-knit group of people led by an experienced and respected batting leader. Few rules for everyone, very strict. "I remember - says Francesco Spano, 88 years old from Bortigiadas, hunting since he was 10 - that no one started eating without having first opened the gun". It is not the story of the good old days, but a hunting culture that has gradually been lost in Gallura.
It has not been replaced by shared rules and a responsible attitude towards an extremely dangerous activity. In the space of a few weeks, some very serious accidents have occurred. A 52-year-old man lost his life in Bortigiadas, hit by a friend. Yesterday some hunters have seen fit to shoot near the villas of Lido del Sole, on the outskirts of Olbia. In Arzachena another hunter was shot by his father. If we then go back in time, the number of very serious accidents averages one episode per year.
«There is no doubt - explains Raimondo Casula, hunter from Arzachen, member of the provincial wildlife committee and local president of Sardacaccia - we have a very serious problem concerning the behavior of improvised hunters. For example, there is no moving from the post office. Instead it often happens that people move during the joke in a dangerous way. The big game requires a great waiting capacity and a good dose of patience. We have to wait, even for a long time, in the cold, in silence. This must be done ».
Casula has a proposal for hunting: «First of all there is the problem of clothing. In other Italian regions they have been used for some time clothing with phosphorescent bands that make hunters clearly visible. This precaution alone is not enough. It is increasingly difficult, to give another example, to explain to people who are perhaps approaching hunting for the first time that you should only and exclusively shoot when the target is visible. For the hunting chief it is tiring then to impose the rule of avoiding excessive approach to roads and buildings. However, the most serious and dangerous attitude is to shoot a moving bush or simply after hearing a noise ».
The hunting companies in Gallura have multiplied, as well as the number of people who take a shotgun for wild boar hunts. «Another change from the past - continues Casula - concerns the age of the hunters. I started at 16 with my father, then I arrived at the gun license. Now there are hunters who join a company at 30, 40, perhaps after a brief experience of hunting thrush ».
Not too young, therefore, if anything late to learn and apply the rules. «We must insist - concludes Casula - in a work of information that belongs to the hunting chiefs. Before starting a joke, I ask that the rules of the post office be respected, I do not want to see hunters with a prohibited ammunition, even if only inserted in the cartridge belt. Obviously you have to find people who are willing to listen to you ». The provincial wildlife committee will soon deal with the latest incidents in Gallura.
ANDREA BUSIA
Source: L'Unine Sarda