Following the poaching incident in Sicily, which involved the killing of Bonelli's eagle, the Italian League for Bird Protection is calling for special intervention and special rules, starting with a banishment order (DASPO).
The LIPU (Italian League for Bird Protection) knows that the eagle is a particularly protected species, as does any hunter. And so does the poacher, who evidently doesn't care much about the protection of a particular species. And in fact, shooting the Bonelli's eagle is clearly not only a failure to respect this endangered species, but also a serious violation of the law. And the LIPU is right to call it poaching and illegal hunting because it's clear that the individual in question has committed an illegal act and is therefore guilty.
But the proposal for a Territorial Hunting Ban and special laws seems out of place, given that the law already provides for sanctions against those found guilty. Penalizing a territory and all hunters who use it in full compliance with the law is fortunately not a concept present in Western democracies, where those found guilty are investigated and prosecuted.
Otherwise, it's like in the First World War, where, when a general issued a shooting order for alleged cowardice in a unit under his command, lots were drawn, and two of the men chosen were newly arrived recruits and not in the unit's service at the time of the events. Despite this justification, they were shot.
Let's just say we hope we've moved past that dire era and that there's more vigilance and control over poaching without inventing banishment orders, since the idiot who shot Bonelli's eagle in certain remote areas that he probably knows better than anyone else would still go there.
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