Although the wildlife hunting plan was approved last July 30 (by majority, with votes in favor from Pd, Five Star Movement and Reformist House and those against from Brothers of Italy, Forza Italia, National Future and Green and Left Alliance, even though the latter is part of the governing coalition) by the regional council, there is no peace for Tuscan hunters.
Just in recent days, Five Star and Green and Left Alliance have relaunched and adopted the request, signed by seventeen environmental and animal rights associations, to postpone the general opening of the hunting season to October 1, currently scheduled for September 20, and to cancel the pre-openings of September 2 and 6. Furthermore, President Eugenio Giani and the regional council are asked to suspend the pre-opening of selective roe deer hunting. On the subject, the deputy of Noi Moderati Michela Vittoria Brambilla, a famous animal rights activist, is literally unleashed.
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Under her push, a historic regulatory reform recently came into force, the so-called “Brambilla law,” which frames the animal as a legal subject and bearer of rights, directly sanctioning mistreatment (such as the use of chained dogs) regardless of animal ownership.
Honorable Brambilla, you also asked the Tuscany Region to review the timing related to hunting activity, especially regarding the roe deer. Why? On what elements is your request based?
«I ask this primarily for ethical reasons; I am against hunting in general. In particular, I find the authorization to shoot roe deer fawns and their mothers from August 15 to September 30 unacceptable. It is a cruel massacre because at this time of year the fawns are not weaned: killing the mother means condemning the newborns to death as well, a slow and painful death. We at Leidaa (the Italian League for the Defense of Animals and Environment, ed.), in our Cras (Wildlife Recovery Center, ed.) “Stella del Nord,” save and care for many orphaned fawns. It is also an absurd massacre. The Ispra (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, ed.), in fact, had given a negative opinion on hunting mothers and fawns and other aspects of the roe deer harvesting plan, but the Tuscany Region did not take it into account. Yet, the Region itself says that in seven years the roe deer population in Tuscany has already decreased by a quarter and the density has even dropped by forty percent. Was this massacre of innocents really necessary, against the opinion of science?».
The opening date of hunting in Tuscany is also creating some political stability problems for the majority. Avs and Five Star have requested a postponement to October 1. Do you agree with this request?
«Climate change and fires do not only affect humans; they affect animals even more. Hunting calendars do not take this into account; they are made to satisfy hunters. The postponement, under the given conditions, seems to me the minimum requirement. That in a country disfigured by the climate emergency, with 89 percent of terrestrial habitats now degraded, with half of the huntable species in decline, with a very high level of anthropization and cementification, hunting must be guaranteed and facilitated is something that surprises anyone with a shred of common sense.»
Hunters are fewer and fewer. But for you, are they still too many?
«The decline of hunting, unstoppable for decades, reflects the great cultural change in our society. Hunters were about 1.7 million in 1980; now it is estimated that there are about 500,000. Moreover, the firearm licenses issued by the Ministry of the Interior for hunting use (588,043 in 2024) often hide personal defense needs. Everything suggests, for various reasons, not least demographic factors, that this number is destined to decrease further. The average age of holders is 59 years, the prevalent age group 65-78 years, and under 30s are just five percent. The loss of appeal among younger generations, more sensitive to environmental issues and in any case unwilling to kill animals as a pastime, is evident. Why still please this increasingly unrepresentative lobby, whose base thins year after year? Would it not be wiser, and electorally more rewarding, to share the concerns of the majority of the Italian population about the conservation of our natural heritage and safety in the woods and countryside during hunting seasons? And this applies to all political forces.»
Are insults towards you continuing after your vote against the Hunting bill, approved in the Senate and currently under discussion in the Chamber of Deputies?
«Let’s say this: the frequency has decreased a bit but the intensity is the same, if not greater. There is a part of the hunting world that does not tolerate dissent and active opposition and uses the computer keyboard as if it were a firearm, to kill.»
How many and what kind of effects does climate change have on wildlife and its management?
«You don’t need a doctorate in zoology to realize the main effects that climate change produces on ecosystems and the animals that inhabit them: less availability of water and food, lower reproductive success, increased mortality during heat waves, droughts and extreme weather events, alteration of hibernation and migration periods, proliferation of alien species, and so on. All this should lead to a more respectful and conservationist attitude towards biodiversity. Instead, no, for a handful of votes, the impulses of those who love to kill animals, even just for fun, are given free rein.»
The increasingly massive presence of ungulates on one side and wolves on the other is putting agriculture and breeders under strain even in Tuscany. How could greater balance be guaranteed?
«Certainly not with the system of indiscriminate extermination, especially in the case of the wolf, which remains, even after downgrading, a protected species. At a minimum, the situation in individual territories must be carefully studied, experts consulted and listened to, not just worrying about pleasing lobbies. The attitude towards wildlife is always the same: if a species is annoying, or is thought to be annoying, hunters are simply authorized to shoot, without taking ethical and scientific considerations into account. They don’t want wolves, which would keep ungulates under control, nor ungulates. Man has upset the balance of nature and thinks he can impose his own interests. But it is a huge mistake.»
How have things changed after the entry into force of your law that amended the penal code regarding crimes against animals?
«For the better, and the first to confirm this are law enforcement operators. With the Brambilla law, decisive innovations have arrived: the definition of animals as sentient beings, bearers of rights, to be protected directly; the increase of statutory penalties for all crimes against animals, starting with killing and mistreatment, which at the end of trials will open the doors of prison; aggravating circumstances for crimes committed on multiple animals, in the presence of minors, or spread online; the institution of definitive custody during the proceedings that allows animals to be immediately taken away from their abusers (even suspected ones) and the ban on the barbaric use of keeping dogs chained. Attention: the Brambilla law protects all animals, not just pets.»
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