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Castiglion Fiorentino, 06/02/02
Mrs Margot Wallstrom On.le Caroline Jackson
Dear Mrs Wallstrom,
I would
like to bring your kind attention to the following desperate and
shameful situation that exists in Italy
In
Tuscany and in Italy, hundreds of domestic cats, dogs and wild
animals are poisoned every month in a slaughter that becomes
worse every year. This shameless massacre of life is perpetrated
by hunters who illegally "mine" the Italian countryside
with meatballs laced with poison. In this barbaric manner, the
hunters claim to protect the game birds that they raise
specifically for killing. These "game" birds are poor
wretched creatures, let free in the woods and fields, only to
satisfy the savage, bloody nature of the human beast.
However,
the victims of this atrocious activity are not just the so-called
"wild" animals that have been raised to be killed. No,
at any moment, in this "cradle of civilization", you
may find your cats and your dogs (your household pets!!) poisoned
by these unknown assailants. An army of 650.000 stray animals
roam the Italian countryside and towns. Starving and neglected,
these creatures have no choice, but to fall prey to the poisoned
morsels. Cruelly abandoned on the road, they die after eating the
poisoned bait, suffering a horrid and slow death.
Every
spring, hunters poison the land illegally and strew the
countryside with meatballs and dead chicken laced with
strychnine, rat-exterminating cocktails, snail- extermination
cocktails, car anti-freeze and pieces of glass..
As you
can see, the hunters maximize the full extent of human ingenuity
in order to "out-smart" their prey. Fields are sown
with great quantities of poison baits to insure there are no
straggling survivors. Hundreds of cats and dogs and countless
wild animals have been poisoned this way in my area alone, and
the slaughter becomes worse every year.
I
understand the main reason of this endless massacre was that
hunters were trying to protect domestically raised game birds
from predators like foxes, stray dogs and cats. But now, having
exterminated everything that lives in the countryside, they must
produce domestically raised game to indulge in their endless
thirst for slaughter. The result, however, is a plethora of
pathetic creatures abandoned in the countryside, waiting for
their death without a fighting chance of survival. Raised by
humans only to die, these creatures have no natural instincts on
how to react to animal or human predators. The poisoning is the
logical conclusion for the hunters to preserve this artificial
game from the few predators left in the woods. To protect their
future victims these sadistic nazi-hunters are ready to poison
everything that could pose a threat to their wretched game.
Therefore, in their minds, the mass extermination of foxes,
badgers, weasels, rooks, stone martens, wolves and,
unfortunately, household pets: dogs and cats.
Ironically,
the infinite slaughter goes on to satisfy the perverse instinct
of a decreasing minority. Hunters in Italy now number 880.000. In
1994, they numbered 1.300.000. Even still, it is inconceivable
how a country with 1.500.000 vegetarians could allow itself to
endure the dominating arrogance of a destructive minority that is
slowly edging towards its own extinction. The hunters are a
detested and feared cabal, but their ranks are thinning rapidly.
Tuscany, considered
one of the most "civilized" areas in Italy, is the top
region for poisoners. Unfortunately, a conspiracy of silence does
not allow us to know the exact extent of the poisoning. However,
we do know:
Tuscany, considered
Protests
to local, provincial and national authorities have obtained
little response. The reason is that the hunters have a strong
political lobby that can move infinitely better than the animal
right groups. It is a well-entrenched lobby that is capable of
anything, including political blackmail (something the fragmented
Green world is incapable of using). 130.000 hunters and their
families in Tuscany bring votes to the local potentates; while
the opposition to this barbaric lobby is divided and weak.
Those
who oppose this cruel lobby take high risk. I personally have
received death threats. The animal rights groups have drawn a map
of the worst areas of poisoning and the Carabinieri and the
Police have tried to intervene, but, alas, they can do very
little. The local politicians are too afraid to alienate the
votes of the hunters. Trying to protect the lobby, they explain
that "it is only a small group of hunters are responsible
for the atrocities". But even still, the evidence proves
that the hunters, as a whole, are the major culprits. The
poisoning increases enormously from February to May, when the
hunting season finishes and the wretched artificial game is
abandoned in the fields. To be fair, I must add that truffle
hunters are also responsible for the poisoning. They try to
protect their fields - by killing the dogs of other searchers!!
Truffles bring gold, and, thereby, justify the extermination of
other people's pets. But, without a doubt, the majority of the
poisoning is still perpetrated by hunters. Several poisoners
operate in the towns, moved simply by their lust for destruction
and their hate for animals. Often peasants use bait to defend
their chickens and rabbits from predators. But ironically, I have
found dead animals in this "civilized" region in a
state of advanced putrefaction because predators have simply
disappeared, submerged below the 25.000 tons of lead the hunters
hurl upon them every year.
While
the writer Muriel Sparks can publicly denounce the death of seven
animals in her articles, numberless Tuscan people stand by and
silently watch in horror as their animals are poisoned and
killed. Why? Because the hunters intimidate the public. It is
well known that during the voting of the referendums against
hunting, the hunters organized menacing pickets to stand right in
front of the polling stations. If Italy were a banana republic,
or East Timor, or a far away African country trying to achieve
some level of democracy, would this outrage be any less
appalling? How then is it possible that referendums against
hunting (1990 and 1997) obtained 92% and 60% of the popular
consensus, but did not pass because they did not reach the
"quorum" (43,3%, 30,1%)?! How is it possible that the
number of animals living with Italian families is 56.350.000,
compared to 57.600.000 inhabitants of Italy, and yet nothing is
done or said to speak out against this carnage?!.
The
solution to the problem is simple. In fact, if there existed a
political will to confront this arrogant lobby, it would be
sufficient to simply suspend hunting in the area where poisoned
morsels are found. If the local authorities could find the
ethical courage to act against this barbaric practice with a two
year suspension of hunting in the "mined" areas and a
five year suspension of injection of domestically raised game in
the fields where morsels have been found, the poisoning would
radically decline.
These
simple actions would enormously reduce the widespread killing. In
fact, the authorities could act according to Law Proposal Number
518, already presented by the Green Party of Tuscany.
Another
action that a civilized nation could adopt is to create a
detailed map of the poisoned areas through information received
by the authorities from citizens that discover the poisoned
morsels.
But the
political will is lacking, for the reasons already explained: the
lobby will not allow change and will employ open political
blackmail to maintain its position of power and control.
In
closing, I would like to say that the goal of this struggle is to
inform the world that the idyllic Tuscan dream of the cinema is
somewhat different than the danger of Tuscan reality. On one
side, you have Bertolucci's or Benigni's artistic vision; on the
other, a group of armed men who can "legally" shoot
rifles and guns only 100 meters away from your house. 100 meters!
Never mind the kids playing in the garden or your family eating
in the dining room! Never mind the emotional bonds that develop
between you and your animals. Never mind the scars that remain
from finding a member of your family - a pet - poisoned and dead
in a field. These things are unimportant in the "real"
world. Expendable. Useless. Unprofitable. No, in this romantic
Tuscan paradise, it is better to serve the interests of a
declining beast. A beast bent on the destruction of anything that
lives in a world of peace.
We
appeal to the European authorities in the hope that they realize
that in a civilized nation, practices of this kind cannot be
tolerated. The proper authorities must intervene immediately. As
a human being, with even the most basic human conscience, it is
utterly unacceptable to live in this so-called "modern"
Europe that allows these barbaric Nazi acts to continue towards
animals.
I thank
you for your kind attention and response.
Yours faithfully.
Paolo Ricci.
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