Record hunt Saturday 13 November on Mount Amiata. The Montagnola beltlai team, from Seggiano (Grosseto), has come across a male boar of 175 kilograms. The "megacinghiale" was demolished near Seggiano, in the locality of La Caduta. "We usually encounter wild boars weighing 80-90 kilograms - says Gilberto Alviani, of the Montagnola team - The maximum we had so far was 130 kilos, but these are rare cases. In 20 years that I have a license to carry a firearm, I had never seen anything like it ». And never had a similar case jumped into the news. It took over an hour and nine shots before I could get it. «Despite eight shots, he kept running away - continues Alviani - and only on the ninth shot Matteo and Manuele, two twenty-year-old hunters, managed to stop him».
For the team, made up of approx 40 hunters and which on average kills 200 wild boars a year, is a hunt to remember in the annals. To understand how it is possible that a boar of this size could be found in the local woods, Il Tirreno asked Andrea Sforzi, director of the Natural History Museum of Grosseto, for guidance. "I had never heard of such a large specimen - says Sforzi -. Such a weight is very rare. The previous record was around 130 kilograms. The unusual size is also due to age. Even if Saturday's is gigantic, it may happen to come across large animals, imported, with hunting inputs, from central-northern Europe ».
In short, the Seggiano wild boar is not one of the native ones. "The Maremma species no longer exists - adds Sforzi - characterized by a lower weight, around 70-80 kilos and by the little reproduction of females. The specimens arrived over the years from the continent, also found on the Apennines, reproduce more frequently and with smaller ones than the Maremma ». As known, for some time wild boars have proliferated throughout Italy, causing damage to agriculture and road accidents. One of the reasons is, in fact, the great ability of non-native wild boars to reproduce. But this is not the only reason. "Even if it is forbidden, even criminally - says Sforzi - there are hunters who feed them throughout the year in the woods. And this leads to a too abundant number of specimens "(The Tyrrhenian Sea).