The president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, has signed a new ordinance for the prevention and control of African swine fever.
“With this measure – explains the governor – we intend to promote as much as possible the depopulation activities of wild boars, the main vectors of swine fever in farmed pigs and responsible for extensive damage to agriculture.
The ordinance confirms all the measures already in place, but intends to facilitate the fight against wild boars with fewer bureaucratic constraints and management of economic resources”.
In protected areas, such as parks and nature reserves, the principle of substitutive power is introduced by the Lombardy Region if the managing body is not able to adopt the control plan. The regional hunting areas will be able to make use of the economic resources not used for wild boar control and management activities, encouraging the creation of structures suitable for the delivery and storage of carcasses on site.
And wild boar control activities coordinated by provincial police can be authorized without necessarily requiring the presence of an agent, using remote methods. Firing will also be permitted from a vehicle (for example from the bed of a pickup). Operators will also be able to use night vision goggles and any light source that can facilitate the activity.
According to the regional councilor for Agriculture Alessandro Beduschi “this is a further response to the need to control this invasive species – he concludes – to protect the livestock heritage represented by pig farms which, for months now, have strengthened the measures as much as possible of safety to protect a fundamental sector for the Lombardy and national agri-food sector. Today the meat coming from our farms is the safest and most controlled in the world”.
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