Shoot wolves and bears? It is out of the question for the Minister of the Environment Sergio Costa ready to challenge the bills of Trento and Bolzano which opened up to the killing of predators. "It is up to the state to decide".
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Shoot wolves and bears? It is out of the question for the Minister of the Environment Sergio Costa ready to challenge the bills of Trento and Bolzano which opened up to the killing of predators. "It is up to the state to decide".
Laws violate the constitutional principle and Minister Costa promises that for protected species at European level there will be no forced slaughter because the responsibility for wildlife, in particular the protected or endangered one, belongs to the State.
The text of the provinces of Trento and Bolzano authorizes "the taking, capturing or killing of specimens of the species Ursus arctos and Lupus canis", without considering however that wildlife is an unavailable asset of the State.
Only a few days ago, in fact, the Province of Bolzano had followed the "example" of its Trentino neighbors, approving (with 25 votes in favor, 3 against and 2 abstentions) a photocopy law that allows exceptions to the protection regime for wolves and bears, imposed by the Habitats Directive. Therefore, also in the Bolzano area, according to the new law, it would be possible to authorize the taking, capturing or killing wolves and bears, once the opinion of the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) has been acquired which, as in the province of Trento, will not be binding.
But, fortunately, it's up to the Ministry of the Environment, according to the directive Ue "Habitat", decide on extraordinary exceptions to the protection of bears and wolves. And not to individual provinces.
“As Minister of the Republic I have the duty to intervene, those two laws violate a constitutional principle. The Piano Lupo, which I intend to bring to the State Regions Conference shortly, excluding the anything but useful passage on selective killing, will contain the right strategies and actions to offer a concrete response also to the requests of the territories to govern coexistence between man and animal species, protecting economies and biodiversity, ”says Costa.
And yet:
"I believe it is a serious mistake for the Provinces of Trento and Bolzano to want to have autonomy over the management of fauna, which is an unavailable heritage of the State, forcing the balance between powers on important and very delicate issues, which must provide for scientific and really valid techniques and a lot of reasonableness ".
So, according to Minister Costa, killing is not the right way.
"There are many alternative solutions that we can find together. For this reason, I still trust in the Presidents and Councils of the two autonomous Provinces and I appeal to them to withdraw the approved measures and start with the Ministry of the Environment and the Regions the institutional path that must lead to the approval of the Wolf Plan, the only one instrument capable of managing the issue for the next few years with technical, scientific, administrative and cultural harmony ".
Among the solutions, just a few days ago, we talked about the beautiful initiative of giving free food for a year to farms that have guard dogs against wolves to reduce the conflict between farmers and predators. An 'antidote' far from the proposed killing of wolves. But often these dogs become a luxury for breeders due to their initial cost and maintenance. To the rescue comes a project by Almo nature, a manufacturer of dog food which, for example, in Trentino has already been married by eight farms, but is also enjoying success in Liguria, Tuscany and Piedmont.
To find out more about the decree, read here:
- Wolves and bears in danger: Trento and Bolzano foresee killing
Dominella Trunfio
