The Court of Taranto ordered the Puglia Region to compensate a Castellaneta agricultural company with 41,748.60 euros, in addition to interest and legal costs, for a total of approximately 52,000 euros. The compensation was determined following the damage caused by wild boars to prickly pear crops. According to the company’s lawyer, Giuseppe Clemente, this is the first ruling of this kind in Italy and could represent an important precedent for future similar cases.
The court held the Region responsible for failing to adequately control the wild boar population, despite the measures envisaged by the wildlife hunting plan and entrusted to the territorial hunting areas. In essence, the personnel responsible for wildlife control did not carry out a sufficient number of killings. The decision, taken by judge Valerio Seclì, concerns the damages suffered by the agricultural company between 2021 and 2023.
Lawyer Clemente underlined that the sentence is relevant not only for the amount of compensation, never recognized before in Italy, but also because it states that growers are not obliged to equip themselves with sophisticated protection systems or to fence their land. The ruling specifies that the fencing of the land is a choice of the owner and that the failure to exercise this choice cannot be considered negligence.
To obtain compensation, farms must demonstrate the extent of the damage and that it was caused by wildlife. Clemente has developed a legal strategy that allows compensation to be obtained relatively quickly. The strategy involves an urgent request for a preventive technical assessment, with the appointment of a technical consultant by the Court to estimate the damage. Subsequently, in a period that can vary from six months to a year depending on the workload of the Court, the conviction is obtained. The Region then has 120 days to complete the payment.
Civico93 reports it.
