In a statement, Kaccaturi San Ubertu said it deplored what it said was false propaganda being fed to an uniformed public by the Coalition Against Spring Hunting, know known as SHout, about the impact of spring hunting on Turtle Dove and Quail. 

The quota negotiated with the European Commission for spring derogation by the previous administration is within the 1% of the species mortality rate contemplated by the European Birds Directive and is considered sustainable based on the bird's Conservation Status and population figures.

The global populations of these two species as calculated by Birdlife International are that of up to 100,000,000 Turtle Doves of which 25 to 40% form part of the European population. The Quail is even more numerous with up to 300,000,000 individuals of which 5 to 24% in Europe.

These bird's Conservation Status is evaluated by the International Union of the Conservation of Nature IUCN, referred to by the European Court of Justice (ECJ),  which states: "Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable. The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion.  For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern".  According to European Directives all game birds evaluated as Least Concern can be sustainably hunted under derogation endorsed by the European Court of Justice.

The media is being provided with proof for their own verification of fact.

IUCN turtle dove classification and population figures : http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22690419/0

IUCN quail classification and population figures: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22678944/0