Il WWF has published in the last few hours a note to comment on a news episode that took place at the gates of the capital"In recent days in Fonte Nuova, in the province of Rome, a hunter fired a rifle shot from the window of his house, hitting a passing car, fortunately without consequences for the occupants. This news does not concern an isolated case but is part of an increasingly long list, which includes injuries, killings and damage connected to the performance of hunting that occur every year in our country. As happened throughout 2022, numerous events have already occurred since the first days of 2023, including tragic epilogues: in Abruzzo on 6 January a 64-year-old man lost his life, in Calabria on 8 January a 61-year-old hunter was wounded in the abdomen, in Lazio on 9 January a XNUMX-year-old suffered the amputation of two fingers after being shot in the foot".
"It is singular - states the WWF - that the Government and the parliamentary majority say that they have public safety at heart, believing that this is jeopardized by wildlife without however considering the diffusion and seriousness of these phenomena which are defined, in a deliberately reductive way, as hunting accidents. Equally singular is the fact that these episodes are relegated to the local news and that in the hunting environment they are considered as mere fatalities, while a video depicting a frightened wolf in peri-urban areas or the news is sufficient, the details of which are still to be ascertained , of the attack of a bear on the Lazio side of the contiguous area of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, to ensure that hunters and politicians close to them spread alarmist news. Thus the episodes are amplified by talking about invasion, emergency and envisaging imminent dangers for people, invoking rifles as the only solution, without going into the real causes or working on prevention".
"If the goal is to protect public safety - concludes the WWF - we expect the political decision-makers to change course, giving up the approach adopted so far which, by allowing hunters to shoot even in urban areas, determines an objective increase in the risk for the safety of citizens, already unable to visit natural areas in safety during the hunting season".