Ángel Berzal, national shooting champion, advocates “living together” with animal rights

Curiosity: what is shooting on the fly? Ángel, a Gomeran ancestry with twenty years of residence in big ravinesouthwest of the chicharrera capital, explains it: “I won the Spanish Cup in this discipline that consists of launching a propeller that simulates the flight of a bird and shooting it to bring it down.” The tournament was recently held at the El Rincón shooting range, in Gran Canaria. He emphasizes that “it was hosted because an islander, Jaime Llull, had won it the previous year in Eibar.” Ángel is already working on organizing the next edition, in 2024, which corresponds to him for having triumphed in this event among 85 shotguns from all over Spain. About a hundred participants in total who with their families “left half a million euros in expenses”, he values.

His dream is to bring the competition to the place where he usually trains and where he was born as a shooter: the Fuente de El Ravelo shooting range, in the northern municipality of El Sauzal. There he goes weekly or every fortnight. You need a field attached to the facilities and some permits that the administration has to give to be able to hold the test. He has already held the first meeting with the mayor, Mariano Pérez ». He reflects: “Apart from the soccerIn the rest of sports, practitioners have to put money out of our pocket.

Ángel is 53 years old, self-employed and the owner of a small business dedicated to the distribution of food and accessories for pets. He explains how he began in the world of hunting: «My family comes from the countryside and from a primary sector that is so abandoned. When I was a child there were hardly any toys and among the few distractions were hunting and fishing. I grew up in Tenerife although in Valle Gran Rey, on La Gomera, I spent many summer seasons and vacations with my grandparents». The third scenario where Ángel’s youth takes place is also a hunter: Arico, where his paternal family comes from. Primary sector.

Berzal considers that those who are viscerally opposed to hunting “do it out of ignorance and absolute ignorance.” He understands that most of them “are urbanites who think that it is enough to touch a button and call the elevator of a shopping center for the product to come out.” He ponders; «All humans, throughout our lives, may need a doctor, a lawyer or an architect. But what can never be lacking every day is what the farmer sows, what the rancher maintains and what the fisherman catches. That is essential.”

Ángel is looking for meaning in the hunt: “I would say that it is even more of a sport than a hobby, although there are a lot of them on the Island – some 6,000 licenses although there were 12,000 “about 20 years ago”, he points out. He considers that hunting “is essential today to maintain the species at optimal densities and that they do not cause damage to agriculture due to overpopulation.” He adds as one of the arguments to defend the role of hunting in the chain of life and in the ecosystem that “farmers, after so much sacrifice to achieve it, see their crops diminished or devoured.”

Another message to those opposed to hunting: “I’m just telling you to share a day with us and then give your opinion with arguments.” In addition, “it is the most liberal sport because everyone who complies with the regulations is welcome; the doors are open to enter or exit. He doesn’t understand religion policy, ages or skin color. We all participate together.” He gives as an example “the last gold medal, the only one in Tokyo, in Olympic shooting by the couple Fátima Gálvez and Alberto Fernández.” Or that of María Quintanal, Basque but settled in Gran Canaria, gold medal in the Olympic pit in Athens ». Sentence: “I do not understand the lobbies that feed on public money and vociferate against a sport they do not know”

Ángel Berzal considers himself a lover of small game, feathered game and especially partridge “the one I practice”. He comments that as a child “I accompanied the rabbit and I also like it, especially with the ferret. I do not understand how hunting with ferrets has not been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) because it is an ancestral and unique practice in Canary Islands. need protection like canarian wrestling or the Game of Stick».

He has a 20-year-old son named after him. «He began with a love of hunting, he points out, but later he dedicated himself to football and Physiotherapy studies. His wife, Salvi, also came to accompany him on some hunting day.

no contradictions

Ángel does not understand that practicing his sport is a contradiction with the job of distributing food for pets; «I have never had problems and I think that what exists is a mistaken idea». He elaborates on it: «I consider myself an animal lover. Of my two pointer dogs Ron and Ares who are my companions and that is how I consider them, I feel them and I treat them as they deserve. He values: «We must tell society that we are not ogres. Denounce, and this is already done, the poacher and the one who mistreats the animal, even if he is a hunter ».

An anecdote to conclude: «We stopped very early at a point in the south to have coffee. There were many hunters and the Seprona of the Civil Guard. There was a rout and I only said that my dogs are in perfect condition, vaccinated, fed, in approved and ventilated cages.