No mincing words but a strong "no" to the dog hunting method for wild boar control. The cry comes from the environmental and animal rights associations Lav onlus, the League for the abolition of hunting and the Legal Intervention Group. All three have asked for the partial cancellation in self-protection of the wild boar control plan recently launched in the province of Oristano. The request was also sent to the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, the Region and the Higher Institute for Environmental Research and Protection.
In the request, the associations also underline that ISPRA, the only State body responsible for issuing opinions to the Regions on hunting and wildlife, recently explicitly requested the exclusion of the dog hunting method, as it is non-selective and significant disturbance for other species of wildlife, as already pointed out by the Ministry of the Environment on previous occasions. The associations then point out that the dog hunting method would favor the dispersion of wild boars in even larger areas. Nonetheless, the Oristano plan includes this methodology as a central element.
Environmental and animal rights associations hope for a serious rethink in relation to an essentially hunting activity that is anything but selective and even counterproductive. And who knows if this change of heart will happen. Meanwhile, in another area there are those who have intervened in this regard. Last March, the Regional Administrative Court of the Marche ruled that hunting cannot be considered a wild boar control technique. He had been called to express his opinion on the appeal presented by animal rights associations against the 2018-2023 wild boar control plan, canceling the provision for the use of hunting as a control method.