Animal lovers locked horns with northern administrators on Friday in a row over the fate of hundreds of deer which the officials want killed. The protesters gathered outside local government offices in the city of Alessandria in the region of Piedmont bearing placards with slogans such as "Hands off Bambi", "Hunting is Death" and "Choose Life".
Among the demonstrators was the mayor of a nearby town, Gianno Tagliani, who wore a T-shirt depicting a deer above the slogan, "They Can't Talk, Luckily for You". Alessandria drew the wrath of animal rights' organisations and environmentalists this week by calling for the elimination of 600 roe deer, particularly fawn, as part of a controlled hunting programme aimed at reducing deer numbers in surrounding woodlands.
The hunting is due to begin on August 10.
Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio was among those who expressed horror. The minister wrote to the regional government of Piedmont asking it to suspend the programme, saying that several national parks had expressed a willingness to take the 600 deer "slated for slaughter".
Pecoraro Scanio conceded that there was a problem in controlling the numbers of certain wild species. But he added, "What is needed is a national programme which deals with the problem with actions that help to maintain the balance without esorting to these cruel practices".
Even European Commissioner Franco Frattini weighed into the row. The European Security and Justice Commissioner wrote to the Piedmont government saying: "I'm surprised and disturbed by the region's plans to slay 600 roe deer, including does and fawns, without any attempt to find an alternative solution".
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said the deer killing was "unacceptable".
"The dangers and inconveniences attributed to this species come nowhere close to those caused by wild boar. In cases like this, the humane and sensible thing to do would be to transfer the animals to protected areas such as parks and nature reserves," it said.
The region of Calabria in southern Italy has offered to "adopt" 100 fawns while there were also proposals to send the threatened deer to Albania. But Alessandria and Piedmont officials defended themselves from the furore.
Alessandria's council said the local deer population had shot up in recent years and had reached unsustainable levels. It said the deer were destroying woodland and, by straying onto roads, were causing accidents - as many as two per night.
The Piedmont regional government pointed out that controlled deer hunting took place across the country, with up to 20,000 being killed in the north alone every year.
It said up to 4,000 were killed annually in Piedmont compared to 9,000-10,000 around the northeast city of Bolzano, 7,000 in the region of Emilia Romagna and 4,500 in the area surrounding Siena in Tuscany.
"These controlled hunting practices are perfectly in line with European regulations and Piedmont is one of the most serious and rigorous regions in ensuring that the rules are applied," it said.
"The roe deer population is growing by 10-15% every year... The consequences are evident both for agriculture and in terms of the number of road accidents. "Every year, the damage caused by deer hooves amounts to some four million euros while there are more than 300 road accidents a year, with cases of people being killed and paralysed," the region said.
Roe deer are little, graceful deer with small antlers and a reddish-brown coat. They are common in the woodlands of Europe and Asia.
