Thousands of hunting enthusiasts from all over Spain have demonstrated this morning in Valencia to claim what they say is a sport "committed to the environment". Since 11 a.m., a stream of people dressed in orange T-shirts has flowed between Plaza de San Agustín and Calle Xàtiva in the direction of Porta de la Mar, on a Saturday with traffic cut off in the city center. A lot of noise from whistles and firecrackers and even brass band music have accompanied the protest banners in a march called by the Hunting Federation of the Valencian Community against the policies of the Botànic.
Among the proclamations and slogans, a direct allusion to environmental groups (it read "Enough of papa's pijoflautas" or "sofa ecolojetas") and to political parties, since the march is also understood in an electoral key. In this sense, the president of the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation, Manuel Gallardo, recalled that this entity has 337,000 members throughout Spain "more than the PP and the PSOE together", some "40,000 of them in the Valencian Community", for what it believes is the "largest civil organization" in the territory.
The president of the Hunting Federation of the Valencian Community, Lorena Martínez, has also participated denouncing the situation of "suffocation" suffered by Valencian hunters, who "mandatorily have to take charge of balancing the wild boar populations" and also "have to pay for it".
"We are responsible for paying people who have traffic accidents with wild boars and we do not have a single aid that makes our capacity as hunters more effective, because they force us to hunt wild boars, but we have nowhere to take them. There is not a single room of game meat inspection to be able to donate or market it, we don't have a single help", he insisted.
"In Catalonia they are giving 20 euros per shot wild boar, in Castilla-La Mancha they are giving away hunting licences, in Murcia they are at zero rate... And here not only do we not have any help, but we also have to pay. 18 Millions of euros a year are invested by the Valencian hunter in improvements in the mountains, not only for hunting species, but for all, and in return we only suffer measures that make it difficult for us to continue hunting", he added.
Carrying the multiple "Yes to the hunt" flags, the protesters have been mostly men, but women and even boys and girls have also attended. They have been the least, but they have also strongly protested against what they consider "discrimination" towards a sport that many live from the family tradition.
This is the case of Carmen Campillo, president of the La Diana de La Pobla de Vallbona hunting club, who this Saturday attended the march with her colleagues, since there are more than 300 in the association. "We want them to make it easier for us to hunt... And we are increasingly looked at worse by society, when we are the first to do pest control. We are involved with the mountains, we are not going to shoot," explained the young woman.
The daughter of a hunter, she grew up in her father's shooting range. She argues that this is a very masculine world, "very closed" and for this reason she calls for more involvement of women and children because she defends "this is a sport like any other". Four women entered her club this year, although "we are still few."
Other female hunters also forcefully defend hunting. María, Dora, Amparo and Ruth are women involved in this sport who argue that "properly understood hunting is a defense of nature". They criticize the ecologists - "they are never there when they are expected," they say - and repeat the idea that in the face of animal plagues such as those of wild boar "it is the hunters who put a stop to this."
The Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA) has joined the idea of hunting as a guarantee of environmental balance, which supports and stands in solidarity with the group of hunters. The association chaired by Cristóbal Aguado warned yesterday in a statement that "the situation in the countryside is dramatic due to the damage and concern generated by the excess of wildlife, mainly wild boars, rabbits, mountain goats, roe deer, birds, etc. We know that without hunters we will not be able to reduce this overpopulation, we need them and, therefore, we support their claims and ask that their work be fairly recognized both by the Administration and by society as a whole”.
The protest this Saturday in Valencia will continue tomorrow in the city of Logroño after having already passed through Madrid on March 20, and a few weeks ago in Pamplona.
