Zootechnical check
“It was a serious imprudence to authorize the exercise of wild boar hounds in open terrain in the repopulation and capture area of the Turin hills, on the edge of the health restriction area of African swine fever. It would be as if, in the midst of the Covid emergency, it had been allowed to organize mass events in nightclubs close to the red zone. Simply absurd. The spread of the swine fever virus travels with wild boars, which for three years we have been trying to contain in every way, through culling and measures that hinder their mobility. Everyone knows what damage the contagion of pig farms in the Chieri area would cause, yet no one seems to have taken it into account". This is how the provincial president of Cia-Agricoltori delle Alpi, Stefano Rossotto, comments on the zootechnical check for dogs tracking wild boars, which took place on Saturday and Sunday on free land (Zrc) in the Turin hills, promoted by the Piedmontese Hound Union.
Farmers' concern
In a letter addressed to the regional councilors for Health, Federico Riboldi, and Agriculture, Paolo Bongioanni, as well as to the director of the specialized Flora and Fauna Protection Unit of the Metropolitan City of Turin, Elena Di Bella, President Rossotto had asked that the event be suspended, reporting the farmers' concern about the risk of the spread of swine fever linked to the potential movement of wild boars, for purely recreational purposes, in territories very close to the restriction areas I.
Adequate depopulation
“Considering all the provisions that pig farms must comply with to prevent the spread of Psa - the letter read - it seems extremely inappropriate that recreational/sporting activities can be carried out, risking nullifying the efforts made to avoid further infections”. Subsequently, in a conversation with the mayor of Sciolze, Rossotto assured Cia Agricoltori delle Alpi of the utmost commitment to ensure that the repopulation and capture zone in which the Municipality falls is abolished and selectors are activated to contain wild boars: “I understand the exasperation of the mayor of Sciolze for the increasingly massive presence of wild boars in the Zrc, where hunting is prohibited - Rossotto observes - but the problem must be solved at the root, ensuring that we can intervene as soon as possible with an adequate depopulation of wild boars and certainly not with dog training exercises in the territory as an end in themselves” (source: CIA).
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