Out of control presence
Wild boars and wolves are no longer just a problem for farmers and agricultural enterprises. From road accidents, one every 41 hours, to the increasingly frequent "face to face" with the wolf that has now arrived at the doorstep, the out-of-control presence of ungulates and predators represents a real threat to the safety and health of citizens. To report it is Coldiretti Grosseto after the umpteenth slaughter in the Maremma. The latest "greggicide" takes us to the hamlet of Sticciano, in the Municipality of Roccastrada: last Sunday night a pack of wolves mauled the small domestic flock of a farm which is now afraid. Five of the seicapi attacked by the wolves who "knocked down" the net to attack the crude were mauled. One is struggling between life and death.
The words of Coldiretti Grosseto
“Wolves and predators are the main cause of the closure of farms in these territories but now they are increasingly an emergency for the community. They no longer only damage crops or eat sheep and goats but invade the streets causing fatal accidents, they live dangerously in urban environments. – explains Fabrizio Filippi, President of Coldiretti Toscana and Confederal Delegate for Grosseto – Farms are fighting a battle they cannot win without adequate regulatory tools to restore a balance that is sustainable and restore safety”. Agricultural entrepreneur Mario Calossi is afraid for his grandchildren: “I found myself face to face with a wolf the size of a calf. – He says – What if my grandchildren had been there? I don't even want to think about it." His small domestic flock is no longer there: “the wolves have thrown down the nets.
The Battle of the Farmers
They came in and killed them. Fences are not enough: they are hungry animals who find a way to enter. I filed a complaint. The Carabinieri and Municipal Police came to inspect the place. But it can't go on like this. It is a battle that farmers will lose if remedies are not taken”. But that's not all: “ the wolves returned in the following two nights. Now we fear for the calves. We can't take it anymore." The presence of wolves in the pastures of Luigi Monni, at the Madonnina, have become unsustainable since 2019. There have already been a dozen attacks. “The wolf attacks by day. We are forced to keep a close eye on the flock and lock it in the shed. – he says – Shepherds, without a solution, will become an endangered species”.
Defense of farms
According to a recent estimate by Coldiretti Grosseto, in the last decade predations have caused the disappearance of 500 sheep farms and at least 40 heads throughout the province, putting at risk the survival of the local dairy supply chain such as Grosseto sheep ricotta, caciotta and the same Tuscan pecorino DOP. On the other hand, there are over 150 losses of sheep and goats reported in the first eleven months of 2022: one in two attributable to depredations. “We need responsibility in the defense of farms, shepherds and breeders who courageously continue to guard the mountains and guarantee the beauty of the landscape. Without pastures - explains the Provincial Director, Milena Sanna - the mountains die, the environment deteriorates and landslides and floods threaten the cities. We have been asking for a long time to define a national plan that looks at what other EU countries such as France and Switzerland have done to protect farmers and farmed animals from the wolf".
Law 157 of 1992
Mario Calossi's company is also surrounded by wild boars. The other scourge that affects citizens more and more closely. “We work shifts at night to defend the vineyards. – he continues – They are destroying the raw material that is the countryside”. Coldiretti has estimated the specimens present in Tuscany at 300. One for every 12 inhabitants. In Tuscany, at the request of Coldiretti, law 310/2016 was amended to allow farmers-hunters to intervene directly against ungulates to protect their crops, after reporting their presence in their land. Now the national government is also moving. "It is a first measure - concludes the director Sanna - What we are asking for is a very urgent decree law to amend article 19 of Law 157 of 1992 which allows the extension of the control plans coordinated by the Regions and thus arrive at a drastic containment" (source: Coldiretti Grosseto).