The alarm raised by Coldiretti for the exponential increase of the wild boar, following the lack of killing during the hunting season, also causes concern to Arci Caccia, beyond the estimates of consistency and the expected exponential growth, on which we have many doubts, while the ascertained increase in damages and costs is evident. In full lockdown, with all human activities reduced to a minimum, we have witnessed an expansion of the fauna throughout the territory, the fauna has played its role and has re-appropriated the territory. The increase in damages that occurred last year worries us because the costs to be incurred for compensation put a strain on the ATC funds and the keeping of the budgets, so much so that we asked the Umbria Region for an extraordinary and supportive effort. to deal with last year's damages.
The various restrictions dictated by the various DPCM did not allow the regular execution of the hunts, resulting in the failure to achieve the objectives of the heads to be killed assigned to the teams, despite the extension of the hunting collection period until January 31st. The situation that has arisen requires us to make an important change in the management strategies to be put in place and this can no longer be postponed, in the face of a desire to increase the collection of the species to reduce the consistency of the wild boar we must deal with a well-established reality. different, in the face of the effort put in place by the hunting world in the last ten years today we find ourselves in the situation that the population is constantly growing, this demonstrates that the solution to the problem is not only the collection and the number of animals killed, but we need to implement joint actions on several fronts.
Certainly, the damage that may occur in the spring months on sowing will not be able to find immediate results with the current containment system and not even with the introduction of selection hunting, therefore an important effort must be put in place to prevent damage rather than intervene. in an emergency. An important preventive effort must be put in place by implementing all possible measures, electrified fences, mechanical bollards, because only with the rifle we will not be able to counter the advance of the wild boar in the immediate future. Hunters cannot be asked for a further effort of withdrawal, when we already know that we will be losers at the start, placing additional management responsibilities on hunters and ATCs with the risk, then being forced to shell out additional resources to indemnify the damage. At this moment it is still possible to plan an important prevention plan, offering a collaboration to farmers in placing electrified fences in keeping them functioning.
We invite the Region, the ATCs The hunting and agricultural associations to identify a plan of preventive measures to be implemented immediately, considering that many regions have also drawn on the resources of the RDPs to find funds to be allocated to the prevention of damage from wildlife, including on the other, prevention is one of the tools that Europe invites to put in place to avoid conflicts between fauna and human activities. In addition to electrified fences, there are other good practices that combined with prevention and numerical control can mitigate conflicts between fauna and anthropogenic activities. Investing in prevention will allow us to save resources to be reinvested in the overall management of the species which in our view is made up of many pieces. Agricultural Associations should also promote good prevention practices among their members by also having access to the funds of the Rural Development Plans, the business risk in any activity must be taken into account and in this case the conflict with wildlife and one of these risks as it can be drought, floods or other unpredictable phenomena.
The hunting world will be available for an important collaboration by making the work of hunters available, as long as we avoid placing the blame only on the hunters. which affect many variables and the desired objectives are not always achieved and in spite of everything the hunters are asked to intervene economically to compensate the damage where the abatement plans assigned to the teams are not achieved, we would not like to think that this system is good for many . To solve the wild boar problem, synergies, will and resources are needed, none of the players in the field can think that the problem must be solved by the other. In the last three months as in past years, we have witnessed continuous political catwalks where everyone is a candidate to solve problems without having to plan possible solutions, we are only witnessing political discussions where everyone defends their position, without relying on any scientific basis. Arci Caccia is available and open to any discussion as long as it is done quickly, we reiterate that the time has come to reach a clear division between hunting regulations and the management of the species, they are two different issues (The President of Arci Caccia Umbria - Emanuele Bennati).