For the umpteenth time we are forced to intervene, like Cia-Italian Farmers of Calabria, on the substantial and continuous damage that farmers, exasperated, are forced to suffer due to the unbridled proliferation of wild fauna and in particular of wild boars, in almost all areas of the rural Calabrian territory and beyond.
From the Pollino to the Strait, reports arrive from farmers, mayors and ordinary citizens who angrily witness, without being able to do anything, the daily destruction of crops and everything planted in the ground, even for amateur production for their own family, including fauna that nests on the ground. The very high number of wild boars present in the Calabrian territory is also invading the very few agricultural areas that were not yet “contaminated” by their presence.
Calabrian agriculture is subject to nocturnal incursions with the destruction of crops by these ungulates, incursions that also take place in inhabited centers, endangering the safety of people, non-native animals that were released at the time for the sole purpose of hunting , having large dimensions and prolificacy. This happened without any control even in territories where the wild boar has never existed, with absent or totally ineffective management.
Part of the territory of the Province of Reggio Calabria has been affected by ASF (African Swine Fever), to date there are no eradication interventions for this species in the infected area, despite the ASF Eradication Plan issued by the Health Commissioner of the Calabria Region . In those areas, the thousand-year-old culture of pig breeding for family use has now disappeared.
As in the territories affected by bovine TB, ungulates could also represent a vehicle for spreading the disease, which, moreover, is even more dangerous than ASF as it is transmissible to humans.
Parks and Protected Areas, where hunting is prohibited, are areas that become refuges for ungulates. It is no coincidence that the areas most affected by damage are those near and within the Parks and Protected Areas.
The solution to the wild boar problem must be entrusted to those who can solve it; the hunters, despite the proclamations of solidarity towards the agricultural world, in the territories, show no interest in eliminating the presence of this alien species.
So far we have witnessed the issuing of culling plans and ordinances which in a large part of the regional territory remain only on paper because on the one hand the high number of wild boars and on the other the lack of interest on the part of part of the hunting world in eliminating the presence of this species does not lead to effective results. We learn that yesterday the Regional Council approved the “Guidelines for the drafting of the five-year extraordinary regional plan on the management and containment of wild fauna and the wild boar species (sus scrofa), of which we take note but do not know the text we reserve the right to express an opinion on the merits later.
And therefore, Cia-Agricoltori Italiani calls for the immediate implementation in the territories, also drawing on personnel not belonging to the hunting world, of the provisions of the wildlife legislation, in particular the latest “Agriculture Decree” recently issued by the Council of Ministers, of the amendments to article 19 of national law 157/92 and the Ordinances of the Commissioner of the PSA.
