The presence of wild boars in our territory has been out of control for too many years. We can talk about a real invasion. In Calabria the veterinary services estimate a presence of wild boars of 300 thousand heads, but for Coldiretti “the invasion” is even more significant.
“The situation –says Franco Aceto president of Coldiretti Calabria – it has become unsustainable for several reasons: they destroy crops of wheat, corn, grapes, potatoes and many other crops; they invade streets especially at night, turn cities and towns upside down and have even caused fatal accidents. They represent a danger to people’s safety and a tragedy from an economic point of view. The presence of wild boars is not just a problem for farmers, but for everyone. And it’s a problem that needs to be solved! After years of battles by Coldiretti, explains Aceto, with the 2023 budget law, in force for more than 18 months now, article 19 ter of law 157/1992 was introduced into our system, which provides for the adoption of a “Extraordinary plan for the management and containment of wildlife”. This plan was adopted with an interministerial decree of 13 June 2023, now 12 months ago. The containment activities arranged under the plan do not constitute hunting activities and are also implemented in areas prohibited from hunting, including protected areas and urban areas, on hunting silence days and during periods of prohibition as required by law. What is missing then? The regional implementation plan is missing! There’s no more time to waste. Farmers and breeders can no longer wait, while wild boars continue to devastate the fruits of their hard work, leaving only damage and desolation in their wake. It has now become a struggle for survival, especially in inland areas already subject to depopulation. This is why Coldiretti Calabria is in mobilization and will participate in the demonstration on Tuesday 18th farmers and breeders from all over the Region, citizens and institutional authorities, in particular the mayors, and will continue until we obtain what is due to farmers, breeders, citizens and consumers. We can no longer procrastinate we need strong solutions because the problem it cannot remain as it is throughout Calabria under penalty of the explosion of even more harmful and ungovernable situations. We ask to put an end to the Region’s inertia and non-compliance with the immediate adoption of the Regional Containment Plan. Wasting further time will certainly mean worsening the climate of panic and material damage to all citizens. As always, Coldiretti is ready to collaborate also from a technical point of view to achieve an indispensable result as quickly as possible: reduce the number of wild boars that devastate our territory. Among other things, Aceto concludes, we must protect, from the point of view of veterinary health, the over 5 thousand farms, including family ones, with around 52 thousand heads of pigs and net of the four PDO cured meats, Coldiretti estimates that the sector of the production of cured meats, sausages and pork, breeding, processing, transport and distribution, is over 400 million €uro.
