An Italian court suspended a controversial deer cull in the northern region of Piedmont on Wednesday.
The cull of 500 roe deer, particularly fawn, was scheduled to start Thursday.
It was authorized by the Piedmont regional government as part of a controlled hunting programme aimed at reducing deer numbers in woodlands near the city of Alessandria. The move drew the wrath of animal rights' organisations and environmentalists, who protested outside local government offices bearing placards with slogans such as "Hands off Bambi", "Hunting is Death" and "Choose Life".
The Piedmont Regional Administrative Court (TAR) has suspended the cull until it hears legal petitions against it on September 6.
Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio and European Commissioner Franco Frattini are among those to have expressed horror at the planned cull. Pecoraro Scanio has conceded that there is a problem in controlling the numbers of certain wild species. But he claims that: "What is needed is a national programme which deals with the problem with actions that help to maintain a balance without resorting to these cruel practices".
Alessandria and Piedmont officials have defended themselves by arguing that the local deer population has shot up in recent years to reach unsustainable levels.
They say the deer are destroying woodland and, by straying onto roads, 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 as many as 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. The regional government originally planned to allow 600 roe deer to be hunted down, but reduced this to 500 when proposals were made to host 100 of the animals in other Italian regions.
Piedmont President Mercedes Bresso said Wednesday that the regional government was willing to consider alternative solutions.
But she stressed that these had to be "technically and financially viable and rigorously respect criteria for the defence of nature".
She also made an appeal for calm, fearing that protests by anti-cull campaigners in the countryside could spark violence with hunters.
Roe deer are little, graceful deer with small antlers and a reddish-brown coat. They are common in the woodlands of Europe and Asia.
