Luca Zaia, President of the Veneto Region, signed a decree effective today, October 29, prohibiting hunting and sport fishing in lakes and rivers for the entire week due to the severe weather warnings that have begun to affect the Veneto region.
The ban on hunting and sport fishing will expire on November 4th. The regional order was issued specifically to protect citizens and wildlife, and hunting is strictly prohibited throughout the region for the duration of the ban.
The President decrees:
- to acknowledge that the premises constitute an integral and substantial part of this provision;
- to establish, for the reasons set out in the introduction and during the 2018/2019 hunting season, a temporary ban on hunting throughout the regional territory, in the period from 29 October 2018 to 4 November 2018;
- to entrust the Agri-environment, Hunting and Fishing Directorate with the execution of this act;
- to inform that a judicial appeal against this provision may be lodged before the Regional Administrative Court within 60 days of becoming aware of it or, alternatively, an extraordinary appeal to the Head of State within 120 days;
- to acknowledge that this provision does not entail expenditure from the regional budget;
- to publish this Decree in the Official Bulletin of the Veneto Region.
Maria Cristina Caretta responded to this provision with the following statement.
President Zaia, with decrees no. 137 and 138 signed on Sunday evening, October 28, suspended hunting and fishing due to "exceptional adverse weather conditions expected in the region between October 29, 2018, and for the safety of Veneto citizens and the protection of wildlife...". Frankly, we believe President Zaia's decision to be excessive and unjustified because, if the emergency were such, the President himself would have issued a further decree inviting all citizens to barricade themselves in their homes, closed the highways, halted all public transport, and ordered businesses to close.
None of this happened, so we wonder why President Zaia has chosen to close hunting and fishing? In exceptional circumstances, wildlife is protected by state law 157/92, so we suspect his is a response to the demands of a fringe group of the divisive animal rights movement, which is ready to call for hunting bans at every turn. Thousands of us hunters are ready to provide practical and voluntary assistance to our Veneto region in the event of "exceptional adversity," but we are no longer willing to accept hunting bans without compelling reasons.
We therefore ask President Zaia for the immediate revocation of the unjustified suspension of hunting and fishing, remedying a terrible mistake that he could have avoided if he had asked for advice from someone who knows more than him, at least on these issues ".
