Italy declares war on wildlife

The Italian government is at odds with public and European opinion.Humane Society International launches a petition to protect wildlife.

For the protection of wildlife, 2023 is off to an uphill start.With the so-called amendment "Wild West”, presented by deputies of the Brothers of Italy at the Budget law, approved in Parliament last December 29, Italy has effectively declared war on its own wildlife, paradoxically liberalizing selective hunting of unspecified species, anywhere and at any time - even in urban areas, protected areas and periods of prohibition – and excluding any prior scientific evaluation.Among the signatories of the amendment there are those who spoke, in their opinion, of common sense.Paradoxical.The same vaunted common sense with which the Budget Commission of the Chamber of Deputies approved this amendment and instead declared inadmissible the one to ban the import and export of hunting trophies obtained from threatened or risk of extinction and therefore protected at an international level, presented by the Hon.Brambilla (mixed group) and supported by Humane Society International.

In a single stroke - the one so vaunted by hunters, "irreplaceable guardians of the natural balance" - the Budget Commission granted the hunters Italians a hunting playground, to be able to have fun in Italy and abroad, in defiance of article nine of the Constitution - "The Republic protects the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems, also in the interests of future generations" -, to international treaties for protection of wildlife, to the relevant European standards and to any commitment and strategic objective for the protection of biodiversity.The intent is clear and, unfortunately, the clientelism of this decision is also clear.

Wildlife is no longer protected

Veiled as a measure for wildlife control in response to the "wild boar emergency" - not to be considered, according to the approved text, as hunting activity - and to guarantee, among other things, incredibly also public safety and road safety, the modification brought about by the amendment to Law no.157/92 for the protection of homeothermic wild fauna and for hunting, potentially also opens the door to the killing of animals belonging to species protected by the Habitats and Birds Directives or located on protected sites on the network Natura 2000.This is a cause for concern especially for native species such as the wolf and the bear which are often targeted by attempts to reduce their level of protection, which currently allows their killing only in limited circumstances.Lastly, the agenda presented by the League which commits the government to evaluate the protection status of the wolf.With the modification introduced by the Budget Law, the risk is that of new loopholes, justifying a series of new cases in which hunters are allowed to take up arms against otherwise protected species, as a wildlife management practice which should instead be supported by scientific assessments and non-lethal management plans.

Furthermore, despite enjoying the maximum protection provided for by European and international legislation, the EU allows the export of large carnivores such as hunting trophies.Between 2014 and 2018, the EU exported 726 trophies of individual mammals protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).Forty percent of these were brown bears and six percent gray wolves, both strictly protected by the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC).There trophy hunting of protected species within the EU constitutes an abuse of the exemption provided for by the same directive;the killing of protected animals for recreational purposes is therefore unjustified and contradicts the EU's ambitions regarding biodiversity.In October 2022, with one resolution on the EU's strategic objectives for Cites Cop19, the European Parliament urged the Commission and Member States “to take immediate effective measures within the framework of the commitments outlined in the EU biodiversity strategy to ban the import of trophies of hunting derived from species listed in Cites".

The role of Italy in trophy hunting

But trophy hunting is not limited to a few species.EU trophy hunters kill many thousands of wild animals around the world for fun, including those belonging to threatened or endangered species, andItaly it is a major destination for trophies.Between 2014 and 2020, our country imported 437 hunting trophies from internationally protected species such as hippos, elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs and polar bears.In particular, Italy was one of the five countries to have imported at least one trophy black rhino, an animal in critical danger of extinction.While the sixth mass extinction is underway, the elite proponents of trophy hunting are doing their utmost to keep alive and promote their cruel, harmful and colonial pastime, amidst false myths, unreliable scientific data and the false narrative of the irrepressible role of Western conservation hunter.In all this, the position of the Italian public is clear:according to recent polls, 74 percent of those interviewed is in favor of a total ban on the export and import of dead animal trophies to and from Italy and the petition launched by Humane Society International with this request, he has so far collected more than 46 thousand signatures.

A sentiment evidently also shared by the IEG Italian exhibition group SpA, the management company of the Vicenza Fair which organized it until last year Hit shows, the number one hunting fair in Italy, with 40 thousand visitors and hundreds of international exhibitors every year.As of 2023, this event has been decommissioned and in one note released in September 2022, the company underlined its incompatibility with environmental values ​​and its mission.This type of trade fair event is an important showcase for the hunting sector which includes not only producers and traders of weapons, equipment and clothing, but also the so-called "outfitters", i.e. operators specialized in hunting trips, who offer on price lists, which can only be defined as macabre, the possibility of hunting for several thousands of euros bears, lions, elephants, hippos and many other species.The divestment of Hit show is a strong blow to the industry and a clear signal from public opinion and the sector, which the current government has decided to ignore.

A signal that the German fair should also grasp"Jagd und Hund”, the largest in Europe, dedicated to hunting and fishing which takes place annually in Dortmund.The next edition will be held from 24 to 29 January and among the exhibitors there is no shortage of those of Italian origin and many of the best-known international "outfitters", whose offers are characterized by grizzly hunting trips in Canada, wolves in Montenegro, 'hippo in Zimbabwe, to lions, white rhinos and elephants in South Africa.On their sites, macabre “trophy rooms” give the customer a preview of guaranteed success.This guarantee often means that the animals are killed in fenced areas from which there is no possibility for them to escape.

The government against public opinion

Therefore, it is a gloomy scenario that Italy currently paints for wildlife.A scenario in which civility, science and ethics are set aside;in which government policy is disastrously at odds with public opinion and with Brussels;in which the constitutional and European commitments and objectives for the conservation and protection of biodiversity receive yet another raspberry.Because in December, while the fifteenth United Nations conference on biodiversity (Cop15) and theGlobal Agreement for Biodiversity, committing countries to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030, in Italy, a country that boasts one of the richest biodiversity assets on the European continent, it has been decided to reduce wildlife to a bargaining chip and it is difficult to believe that it was done only to maintain the consensus of certain lobbies.