Drizzt
Member
Wedded to the shotgun
Avian flu is now at large in Europe but the Berlusconi government appears still to support the annual Italian hunt of migratory birds, writes John Hooper
Thursday October 20, 2005
The arrival of avian flu in Europe has sparked a debate in a country with one of the continent's strongest gun lobbies over whether to ban the shooting of migratory birds.
More than 700,000 Italians go shooting during a season that varies from region to region but lasts in most parts of the country from September to January. Numbers have been shrinking steadily from a peak of some 2.3 million in the mid-1970s.
The shooting lobby today may not be as awesomely powerful as it was when the centre-left leader Francesco Rutelli branded it "a republic within the republic", but it can nevertheless count on widespread sympathy among the MPs who keep Silvio Berlusconi's government in office.
And some critics have seen its influence behind an official reluctance to suspend shooting despite the special dangers created by bird flu.
Evidence from Asia suggests humans mostly get the virus from contact with the excretions of infected birds. And those, of course, include blood.
Several countries have acted on the assumption that hunters run an increased risk: Saudi Arabia has halted falconry, and Turkey, Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro have all suspended shooting.
But this week, after a meeting with scientific experts and advisers drawn from both the environmental and shooting lobbies, the health minister, Francesco Storace, decided to ban only the use of live birds as lures. He said a decision on whether to impose more far-reaching measures would be taken after consultation with Italy's European Union partners.
With the virus apparently creeping inexorably westwards and the shooting season in full swing, some opposition politicians say action needs to be taken right away. The vice-president of the European commission, Franco Frattini, who once served in Mr Berlusconi's government, argued earlier this week that it was "clear that it is migrating birds that transmit the virus".
The governments of six regions where the left is in the majority appealed to the government for an outright ban on all shooting "until such time as it is determined whether migratory fauna can be a means for the spread of the illness".
"A lot of hunters are farmers, and they could become the unwitting means of infecting their own [poultry]," said Daniela Valentini, the regional agriculture minister for Lazio, which surrounds Rome.
At stake, however, less than six months before a general election, is an activity that engages the passions of hundreds of thousands of voters. Shooting also sustains a significant, if varied, industry that takes in everything from the manufacture of shotguns to the breeding of gun dogs.
It used to be said that the strength of Italy's gun lobby lay in the fact that it encompassed politicians of the left and right alike. Some of the most passionate shooting enthusiasts are still to be found in solidly "red" rural regions such as Umbria, Tuscany and the Marches.
However, as people have drifted out of the countryside and into the towns, and the number of people who go shooting of a weekend has dwindled, the lobby's centre of gravity has gradually shifted to the right.
The present government's benign approach to shooting can be gauged from a bill sponsored by a law-maker from Mr Storace's party, the formerly neo-fascist National Alliance, that is currently making its way through parliament.
This would update several aspects of the existing legislation on shooting, which dates from 1992. Among other things, the bill would extend the season by two months, allow the shooting of species that are protected elsewhere in Europe and mean that many forms of poaching were no longer criminal offences.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1596565,00.html
Avian flu is now at large in Europe but the Berlusconi government appears still to support the annual Italian hunt of migratory birds, writes John Hooper
Thursday October 20, 2005
The arrival of avian flu in Europe has sparked a debate in a country with one of the continent's strongest gun lobbies over whether to ban the shooting of migratory birds.
More than 700,000 Italians go shooting during a season that varies from region to region but lasts in most parts of the country from September to January. Numbers have been shrinking steadily from a peak of some 2.3 million in the mid-1970s.
The shooting lobby today may not be as awesomely powerful as it was when the centre-left leader Francesco Rutelli branded it "a republic within the republic", but it can nevertheless count on widespread sympathy among the MPs who keep Silvio Berlusconi's government in office.
And some critics have seen its influence behind an official reluctance to suspend shooting despite the special dangers created by bird flu.
Evidence from Asia suggests humans mostly get the virus from contact with the excretions of infected birds. And those, of course, include blood.
Several countries have acted on the assumption that hunters run an increased risk: Saudi Arabia has halted falconry, and Turkey, Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro have all suspended shooting.
But this week, after a meeting with scientific experts and advisers drawn from both the environmental and shooting lobbies, the health minister, Francesco Storace, decided to ban only the use of live birds as lures. He said a decision on whether to impose more far-reaching measures would be taken after consultation with Italy's European Union partners.
With the virus apparently creeping inexorably westwards and the shooting season in full swing, some opposition politicians say action needs to be taken right away. The vice-president of the European commission, Franco Frattini, who once served in Mr Berlusconi's government, argued earlier this week that it was "clear that it is migrating birds that transmit the virus".
The governments of six regions where the left is in the majority appealed to the government for an outright ban on all shooting "until such time as it is determined whether migratory fauna can be a means for the spread of the illness".
"A lot of hunters are farmers, and they could become the unwitting means of infecting their own [poultry]," said Daniela Valentini, the regional agriculture minister for Lazio, which surrounds Rome.
At stake, however, less than six months before a general election, is an activity that engages the passions of hundreds of thousands of voters. Shooting also sustains a significant, if varied, industry that takes in everything from the manufacture of shotguns to the breeding of gun dogs.
It used to be said that the strength of Italy's gun lobby lay in the fact that it encompassed politicians of the left and right alike. Some of the most passionate shooting enthusiasts are still to be found in solidly "red" rural regions such as Umbria, Tuscany and the Marches.
However, as people have drifted out of the countryside and into the towns, and the number of people who go shooting of a weekend has dwindled, the lobby's centre of gravity has gradually shifted to the right.
The present government's benign approach to shooting can be gauged from a bill sponsored by a law-maker from Mr Storace's party, the formerly neo-fascist National Alliance, that is currently making its way through parliament.
This would update several aspects of the existing legislation on shooting, which dates from 1992. Among other things, the bill would extend the season by two months, allow the shooting of species that are protected elsewhere in Europe and mean that many forms of poaching were no longer criminal offences.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1596565,00.html