Stop the guns of hunters throughout Sicily: animals, environmentalists and citizens who live near woods and countryside can breathe a sigh of relief. A ruling from the Regional Administrative Court of Palermo canceled the 2026-2027 hunting calendar, imposing the immediate interruption of hunting activity throughout the regional territory. We are faced with an important victory for environmental and animal rights associations, who for months had been contesting the legitimacy of the authorizations granted by the Region, which regulated hunting on the basis of a now outdated wildlife plan.
With sentence no. 2953/2026, filed on 30 October, the third section of the Regional Administrative Court for Sicily accepted the appeal presented by the National Pro Natura Federation and the LEAL Antivivisectionist League, supported by CABS, Green Impact and Activists Gruppo Randagio. The judges annulled the councilor’s decree of 21 May 2026, which approved the calendar of the current hunting season.
“The last planning instrument in fact dated back to the five-year period 2013-2018 and, given the obligation of five-year review established by the regional legislation (LR 33/1997), the Region had never carried out a legitimate re-evaluation or updated confirmation. As highlighted by the administrative judges, in light of the regional legislation in force and the precautionary principle enshrined in the Euro-unitary system, the jurisdictional annulment of the decree entails the immediate impossibility of carrying out hunting activities throughout the entire Sicilian territory for the current season. The Regional Department of Agriculture and the other interested parties were also sentenced to pay the costs of the litigation.” we read in the association’s note.
Sicily authorized hunting with a wildlife plan until 2013
At the center of the matter is a fundamental document for the management of wildlife: the regional wildlife-hunting plan. This is the tool through which administrations must plan the protection of species, the conservation of habitats and the management of hunting activities, based on the characteristics of the territory and the available scientific knowledge. In Sicily, however, the last approved plan dated back to the five-year period 2013-2018. Despite the regional law n. 33 of 1997 provides for a five-year review, a valid revaluation or updated confirmation of the instrument would not have been carried out.
For the TAR, this lack makes the adoption of the hunting calendar illegitimate. In fact, it is not sufficient to establish the opening and closing dates of the hunt every year without an updated plan that forms the basis for it. The decision also recalls the precautionary principle, according to which the protection of the environment and biodiversity must be considered in the management of activities that can affect natural balances.
Environmentalists: «The protection of biodiversity comes before hunting»
The sentence comes at the end of a judicial confrontation that had already led to several measures over the summer. Great satisfaction on the part of the organizations that promoted the appeal, for which the ruling represents a significant result in the defense of wildlife.
“The sentence of the TAR Sicily forcefully restores the legality and pre-eminence of environmental protection and biodiversity over hunting activity, in perfect adherence to the principles of article 9 of our Constitution” declare the lawyers Luca D’Agostino, Aurora Rosaria Loprete and Mariachiara Giovinazzo, lawyers of the appellant associations. “The judges made it unequivocally clear that serious and up-to-date scientific wildlife planning cannot be ignored. Claiming to regulate hunting on the basis of a wildlife plan that was stuck in 2013, obsolete for over a decade, constituted a serious flaw in the investigation and an infringement of the precautionary principle.”
A reminder that goes beyond the single hunting season and concerns the way in which institutions manage a natural heritage that belongs to the community.
Federcaccia doesn’t agree and announces an appeal
The reaction of the hunting associations was not long in coming. Federcaccia Sicilia expressed strong disappointment with the sentence, announcing its intention to turn, together with other organizations, to the Council of Administrative Justice for Sicily to obtain its reform.
“Evidently hunters are tired of seeing themselves constantly attacked by appeals and court rulings and would like to have, once and for all, certainties to be able to practice this passion in peace. – we read in the press release published on 31 October – As Federcaccia Sicilia together with Federcaccia Nazionale and the Sicilian Hunting and Nature Association and the Sicilian Council of Hunting Fishing Environment Cinofilia Sport, we are ready to intervene immediately with an appeal to be presented to the Council of Administrative Justice for Sicily in which we will ask for the reform of the TAR ruling, contesting various parts of this ruling, which appear illogical in light of the provisions of national and regional laws regarding regional wildlife planning”.
Sources: Green Impact/ Federcaccia Sicilia
