Salviamo L’Orso, together with the main Italian animal rights, environmental and scientific associations, has made a direct appeal to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, asking her to stop DDL 1552, known as the “Malan-Lollobrigida DDL.” According to the signatory organizations, the measure represents a significant step backward in the protection of wildlife and public safety, in a context already marked by hundreds of incidents related to the use of hunting weapons between 2007 and 2025.
The bill intervenes by profoundly modifying Law 157/1992, which until now has been the main reference for wildlife protection in Italy. The proposed changes are considered extremely critical: protected areas are reduced, the number of huntable species is expanded, and the role of scientific evaluation in decision-making is weakened. Added to this are openings that seem difficult to justify, such as the possibility of hunting in hitherto excluded contexts – including beaches – and the facilitated entry of foreign hunters without strict limits.
Even more problematic are some amendments introduced in the final stages, which seem to respond more to economic interests than to environmental protection requirements. In particular, the possibility of recognizing managers of private hunting areas as agricultural entrepreneurs, allowing them to access public funds, is challenged. In this way, wildlife risks being turned into an economic resource to be exploited, losing its value as a common good.
A further element of concern relates to the National Technical Committee on Wildlife: an amendment aims to avoid a possible ruling by the Constitutional Court on its legitimacy. This passage is read as an attempt to remove the measure from key institutional control.
Added to all this is a clear disconnect from the will of the people. The more than 400,000 signatures collected against the bill and polling data clearly indicate a growing public opposition to the expansion of hunting activity. Not only that, the measure appears contrary to the spirit of Article 9 of the Italian Constitution, which commits the Republic to protect the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems also in the interest of future generations.
And it is precisely by looking at the path that has led to this point that the most profound critical issues emerge. This bill was born with the stated goal of reforming hunting regulations, but within a short time it took a very different direction, with a sudden acceleration of the parliamentary process that left little room for discussion. In the course of the discussion, instead of strengthening environmental safeguards, changes were introduced that expand pressure on wildlife and reduce controls. Then, in the final stages, came amendments that seemed to consolidate special interests, intervening in such sensitive aspects as access to public funds and institutional control mechanisms.
In the meantime, civil society has mobilized, collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures and demanding a rethink, but this has not been heeded. Today, the text is at a decisive stage, and precisely because of this, concern is growing: because what was supposed to be a regulatory update risks turning into a significant retreat in the protection of the environment, safety and the very principle that wildlife is everyone’s heritage, not a resource to be exploited.
Below is the list of signatory associations:
AFNI – ALTRITALIA AMBIENTE – ANTISPECIST ALLIANCE – ALTURA – FRIENDS OF THE EARTH – ANIMAL AID ITALIA – ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS – ANIMAL LAW ITALIA – ANIMAL VOICES UNITED – ASOIM – ASSOCIAZIONE CARETTA CARETTA -ASSOCIAZIONE IO NON HO PAURA DEL LUPO – STRAY GROUP ACTIVISTS – CERM – CIRF – CISO – EARTH – EBN – ENPA – BEING ANIMALS – ETHICSCIENCE – FEDER TREK – PRO NATURA FEDERATION – CAPELLINO FOUNDATION – CAVE CANEM FOUNDATION – MAREVIVO FOUNDATION – GAIA ANIMALI&ENVIRONMENT – GAROL – GREEN IMPACT – GREENPEACE – GRIG – INSUBRIC GROUP OF ORNITHOLOGY – GYBN ITALY – HUMANE WORLD FOR ANIMALS – ISDE – LAC – LAV – LEAL – LEGAMBIENTE – LEIDAA – LIMAV – LIPU – LNDC – MAN – MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS – NAHR – OASICOSTIERA ODV – OIPA – NETWORK OF SANCTUARIES – REWILDING APPENINES – SALVIAMO L’ORNITOLOGICA ITALIANA – SOS GAIA – SROPU – SRSN – VAS- WALDRAPPTEAM – WWFF