The hunting season finished on the 31st January. Hunting is not only dangerous for the birds in Italy but also for the hunters. For the 5 months of the hunting season (Sept – Jan) there were 35 killed and 73 people wounded. Not all the dead and injured were hunters. Some were just passers by, in the wrong place at the wrong time and of course one wonders how accidental some of the shotings are. A couple of years ago at Mondolfo there was the case of the retired police inspector who was arrested for murdering his wife. He claimed that he was in the bedroom cleaning his gun when it accidently went off and hit her in the chest.
If hunting is dangerous then crossing the street is even more hazardous in Italy. In 2009 667 pedestrians were killed. This statistic will not surprise anyone who has visited Italy. Italian drivers do not like to stop at zebra crossings – they prefer to slow down and then drive around the person on the crossing.