Le Calabrian hunting associations (Federcaccia, ANLC, Enalcaccia, Arcicaccia, ANUU Migratoristi, Italcaccia and EPS) gathered in the Regional Coordination express the hope and the need for a new and constructive season of collaboration with the parties interested in problems of fauna, of the territory and the environment, with a particular invitation to agricultural organizations. The framework in which we find ourselves operating is not the best. On the one hand, the evolution of cultivation techniques for some decades has seriously endangered the most demanding species from an ecological point of view (gray partridge, rock partridge, quail, turtledove, alaudidae, etc.), on the other hand widespread situations of abandonment of agricultural land, accompanied by a loss of diversity in crops, have benefited general species such as the corvids and the fox, to which are added wild ungulates and the wolf.
Even the uncontrolled presence of livestock in the wild, which in some cases escapes the health checks of the law, can potentially represent a fertile ground for dangerous outbreaks of important diseases, including TB and / or the dreaded African Swine Fever. The “wild boar problem” is placed in this context. It is evident that the choices of the agricultural world, which assumes a leading role and of great responsibility, occupy a position of pre-eminent interest also for the hunting one. To work well, both sides must do the effort to adequately read up on the issues on the table, updating knowledge to make a real contribution to problem solving; which unfortunately does not always happen.
In addition to the basic consideration that, evidently, many actors responsible for the management of wildlife and the territory have done poorly in the past, it must be agreed that the time has now come when the representatives of the agricultural world become aware of the problems in terms of effectiveness and contribute to promoting concrete and adequate management policies. Shared objectives are needed, with the awareness that they are not exclusively agricultural and economic, but also cultural, administrative-financial, biological, ecological, etc. It is then necessary to define a management plan which, using strategies of proven reliability, makes reference to reliable databases which are continuously implemented and updated. The management of the wild boar, with all the difficulties it entails, cannot be improvised or interpreted only on emotional grounds, as often happens, but must follow scientific criteria capable of modulating management at a local and temporal level based on the pre-established and shared parameters (the so-called "adaptive management").
To the friends representing the agricultural world who participate in the program meetings, we would like to remind ourselves that generic and simplistic proposals based perhaps on free and unconditional withdrawals are not enough to seriously and fully address the problem of damage in agriculture. These are not the solutions to a problem of great importance which, on the other hand, cannot continue to be addressed in an emergency. Everyone has to start taking on their responsibilities and even before that, it is good if we are accompanied by the necessary reflections and investigations of the case.
The Coordination of the Hunting Associations is therefore available: to listen, to collaboration, to common work commitments, to serious and prolonged projects over time, to a more stringent and fruitful synergy to be carried out in the (hopefully) finally renewed ATC management committees. The representatives of the rural world are simply asked for availability and comparison in the drafting of an effective Wild Boar Management Plan; an urgency that can no longer be postponed over time, based on the “desire to do” and on the professionalism of each individual. The Region undoubtedly has its own responsibilities in wild boar management, but this does not mean that it alone can represent the scapegoat for all the errors committed in the past.