Millions of protected song birds to be exempted from protection in Italy (1 Viewer)

[David]

Nature protection organisations to challenge the relaxation of local hunting laws in court
The Northern Italian regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto have, at the beginning of August, announced the hunting regulations for the autumn 2008 hunting season and, as expected, have announced a wide assortment of huntable bird species. In addition to those species which may be hunted throughout Italy (Fieldfare, Redwing, Song Thrush, Blackbird and Skylark), these regions have also announced the lifting of the ban on bird species which are afforded protection throughout Europe.
Lombardy, which at this time of year almost traditionally publishes a list of species which hunters are keen to shoot, and which equally regularly loses its case in the courts, will permit the shooting of hundreds of thousands of Chaffinches, Bramblings as well as Italian and Tree Sparrows. In addition, from 21 September onwards Starlings, which are a huntable species under EU law but are on the Italian list of protected species, may also be shot
In Emilia-Romagna Starling, Italian and Tree Sparrow may also be shot from the end of September onwards and in addition hunting of Cormorant and Collared Dove will also be permitted.
Veneto surpasses all other regions with its liberal regulations. Here may not only Starling, Chaffinch and Brambling be shot, but also the Meadow Pipit - a species which has suffered large population declines, not only in Europe but also in the rest of Europe.




Each region has different regulations with regard to the numbers of birds which may be killed. On average, each of the 150,000 hunters in the three affected regions is permitted to shoot 3 individuals of every species on each of the 55 days of the hunting season. This amounts to a theoretically numerical blood-letting of almost 25 million protected birds!

CABS, together with its Italian partner organisation Lega Abolizione Caccia (LAC), is examining what legal steps are necessary in the individual regions. The first legal complaints against the relaxation of the hunting laws in Lombardy are in preparation.


David

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David Conlin
International Liaison officer
Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) http://www.komitee.de/en/ .... actively
operating against illegal hunting across Europe

 

[David]

You can also catch up with the rest of the CABS news and projects at:

http://www.komitee.de/en/index.php?index


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[totaljohn]

i'd like at least one of those hunters to try and describe to me the pleasure of killing a small, defenceless creature. i don't think they could without sounding morbid, sadistic and borderline psychopath. but hey, you're not a real man if you can't kill something right? shit. gotta prove yourself somehow, right?

 

[Robert / Seattle]

David,

Can't some "EU type" of pressure be exerted from member nations? Not sure how all that works.

Robert

 

[Mickymouse]

i'd like at least one of those hunters to try and describe to me the pleasure of killing a small, defenceless creature. i don't think they could without sounding morbid, sadistic and borderline psychopath. but hey, you're not a real man if you can't kill something right? shit. gotta prove yourself somehow, right?

I agree entirely it's not like they are feeding their families is it? And as far as I'm aware they haven't the excuse of preserving the environment either.
An open question to women in those parts. Do you find your menfolk more sexy today because they have killed 30 meadow pipets?

Mick

 

[David]

David,

Can't some "EU type" of pressure be exerted from member nations? Not sure how all that works.

Robert

CABS and its Italian partner organisations are preparing legal action in the local administrative courts against the unlawful relaxation of hunting laws and will also bring the matter to the attention of the European Commission in Brussels.

 

[hilsbirdwing]

This is the kind of thing I email my MEPs about.
You can do this through the website www.writetothem.com
Just type in your postcode for the list of your local representatives.
It always takes them ages to reply - but it's this kind of thing they should be earning their money for!
Hils

 

[ColonelBlimp]

When I was in Italy in a really quite rural area on a trip I was really surprised by the sheer lack of bird life apart from the odd corvid and sparrow-less birds, even, than I have seen in inner-city London.

I know hunting is a real problem there, but it is bloody stupid to go and make it worse. Surely there is some EU regulation against this madness?

 

[David]

When I was in Italy in a really quite rural area on a trip I was really surprised by the sheer lack of bird life apart from the odd corvid and sparrow-less birds, even, than I have seen in inner-city London.

I know hunting is a real problem there, but it is bloody stupid to go and make it worse. Surely there is some EU regulation against this madness?

As I indicated above there are indeed EU regulations against such independent action against the authorities and in most cases the Italian judiciary (who have a hard enough time under Signor Berlusconi and his henchmen) quash such exemptions when they are challenged in the courts. We do this regularly - see:

Italian judges rescue millions of birds​

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[David]

Sadly a 100 % success rate cannot be achieved. Here, as an example, the result of legal action taken in 2006:

"The Milan administrative court has, in an interim judgement, declared that the numbers of Starlings, Chaffinches, and Bramblings which may be shot in Lombardy must be reduced by more than half until the court makes its final decision on 7 November.

Each of the 91,000 individual hunters in the region may now ‘only’ shoot 3 Bramblings (instead of 7), 7 Chaffinches (15) and 25 Starlings (50) –a total of 3,185,000 protected birds! With this announcement the court is attempting to reach figures that can be interpreted as the “small numbers” quoted in the EU bird protection guidelines in the event that an exception is eventually granted to the hunters in this case.

The case was taken to court by the Lega Abolizione Caccia – LAC (Anti-hunting League) and is 100 % financed by the German Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS)."

We also ensure in parallel that MEPs and commission members in Brussels are kept informed of developments. As Hils at Birdwing pointed out above everyone can bring this and allied matters to the attention of their MEP.

For UK residents see http://www.writetothem.com/

For other EU member countries start here http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public.do

 

[ColonelBlimp]

The pictures on the website two posts above are truly horrendous, and calls into question the state of mind of people who are prepared to actually commit this slaughter.

Maybe they could allow hunting, but only with rifles with a sealed chamber filled with gunpowder? Just a thought...