Two months of stop of the hunting activity and of the controlled felling, due to the Covid emergency. The result is an increase in the number of wild boars, free to damage land and crops in rural areas, but also to walk undisturbed in urban streets and places, increasing the risk of accidents with the start of Phase 2. Farmers already devastated by the current health and economic emergency, forced to remain helpless, for two months, in the face of attacks by wild animals beyond all control, today more than ever. The reports of our agricultural entrepreneurs have also reached the Atc (Territorial Areas of Hunting) who by law are the first to intervene in the event of an attack, but who at this moment had to cross their arms and wait. Now, after the alarm to the Region, finally the situation has been unblocked.
It is possible to return to intervene in case of attacks by wild boars and other wild animals to agricultural crops. Through a certified email to the Atc1, the Region after a meeting between the Ass. Roberto Morroni and the Prefect of Perugia Claudio Sgaraglia gave the green light, defining the criteria for resuming "urgent boar control interventions, in the event of a request from farmers ", while respecting all the sanitary regulations in force to minimize the risk of contagion from Coronavirus. The farmer can also intervene directly, if equipped with a hunting license, after 4 hours from the request for intervention to the competent ATC.
In the last weeks Bye Umbria has received many reports, in which the damage suffered is documented. Among the areas most affected by wild boars is Lake Trasimeno: in Casamaggiore (a hamlet of Castiglione del Lago), the ungulates have stocked up on sprouts in the corn-sown fields. Other companies recorded damage to the crops of green beans, chickpeas and other vegetables, especially in the Tuoro area where the barley is now enticed after the devastating passage of wild boars. Furthermore, between Umbertide and Gubbio the olive groves of some companies have been damaged by the passage of roe deer. "We do not ask, - says Matteo Bartolini, president of Cia Umbria, - contrary to what animal rights activists think, the extermination of wild boars but a fair balance between those who have always lived in these areas having the opportunity to work and produce food, and animals .
Today this balance is totally lost and not only because of the wild boars. Even roe deer, which feed on gods shoots of tree crops, they are a problem. We hope that we will be guaranteed the possibility of intervening and the safeguarding of our work, especially in this emergency phase in which food production plays a fundamental role. At the same time - concludes Bartolini - we urge the Region to ensure that a boar meat supply chain can soon be created to be sold in restaurants, farmhouses or butchers in Umbria, avoiding buying it from neighboring regions or, as often happens, from abroad ".