African swine fever
The technical meetings promoted by the vice president with responsibility for Agriculture Alessandro Piana on African swine fever continue with today's table at the Liguria region open to agricultural associations, territorial hunting areas, hunting associations and Anci (National Association of Italian Municipalities). "After months and months of monitoring, costs and not indifferent risks for hunters from all points of view - explains vice president Piana - we cannot further postpone the phase following the fences, of eradication of African swine fever even with substantial changes to the regulations of regional competence on the control and depopulation of wild boars. We will continue to ask the Ministries for answers: I hope to finally find adequate feedback with this new government.
Hunters and farmers
Indeed, to be more incisive, together with the agricultural associations, the national association of Italian municipalities Liguria, the Ligurian hunting associations and the representatives of the territorial hunting areas gathered today we are establishing a common link with the commissioner for African swine fever and with the Ministry of Health to revise the commissioner's order no. 4/2022 in the parts preventing the start of the depopulation of wild boars in the restricted areas deriving from the presence of the virus. Among the upcoming actions, we received broad agreement on the proposals to modify the methods of control of agricultural funds already in force in the Liguria Region to give greater elements of protection. In particular, we have proposed to add the selection hunters alongside or under the coordination of the Regional Nucleus for environmental wildlife surveillance in the interventions of wild boar depopulation of the PRIU (Regional plan of urgent interventions for the management, control and eradication of the plague African swine in breeding pigs and wild boar species). In addition, moreover, self-defense control interventions may be conducted on agricultural land owned or managed and on neighboring land, subject to written authorization from the owner or tenant to be sent to the regional administration ".
Volunteers working in the area
In order to be able to give further operational changes of course, for the self-consumption of wild boars killed in zone I and II, the Liguria Region is already working with the associations and subjects in charge of the programmatic document with the new codes of conduct. Meanwhile, it should be noted that, despite the large number of volunteers engaged in the area (over 15.000 units), the reports of ASF virus positive carcasses were exclusively found in the active viral circulation area between the containment barriers. As of 11 August 2022, compared to 719 carcasses sampled there were only 61 positive ones; at the date of 13 October 2022 the carcasses sampled are in total 976 (+ 36%) while the positive cases have risen to 65 (+ 6%) (source: Liguria region).