In Abruzzo, hunters will be able to kill deer cubs by paying 50 euros

Inside the decides n.509 of last August 8, which provides for the killing of almost 500 deer starting from next October, the Abruzzo Region has established that they can also be killed deer cubs under the age of twelve months, upon payment of a 50 euro tax - which will rise to 200 for hunters not resident in Abruzzo.Of the 469 animals of which the Region has authorized the "collection", 142 are in fact specimens no older than one year.The prices for killing animals then rise up to 250 euros (600 for non-residents) for males over 5 years of age, while for "adult trophy males" the price will be established "through a trophy expert enabled".The environmentalist associations, which had immediately protested against the Region's decision, launched a protest online petition to stop the culling and find alternative solutions, which it has already collected almost 70 thousand signatures.

Within the resolution, the Region reports how «the large number of some groups of animals that is detected in the area does not give rise to any fear of any problem regarding the conservation of the species».The condition is therefore "suitable" for the application of the hunting plan, specifies the body.The presence of a high number of ungulates, writes the Region, entails "economically significant" damages to crops, as well as causing a danger for motorists, due to the risk of impact.For each head killed, the hunter will have to pay a premium to the ATC (Territorial Hunting Area), technical-administrative structures that deal with the management of the planned hunt of the relevant resident fauna.«Organisms essentially managed by hunters who appropriate, making profit from, wildlife that should be everyone's heritage», writes WWF, which promoted there petition online Let's stop the slaughter of deer in Abruzzo.

"For satisfy a small group of hunters, towards whom the president and vice-president of the Abruzzo Region show ever greater subjection, the vision of an Abruzzo capable of coexistence with wild fauna is abandoned with impunity and, above all, a model of environmental education and biodiversity protection that has been laboriously betrayed outlined over the years" reports the petition, which in the space of a few days collected almost 70 thousand signatures.The association asks for the plan to be suspended and to open a discussion table with the associations, which will allow a discussion table to be opened for the management of animals and to find solutions «to limit damage to agriculture and the risk of impact with motor vehicles ».

[by Valeria Casolaro]