Day by day, the bulletin continues to worsen damage from wild animals: from Valsassina to the Upper Lake, from Val d'Intelvi and Val Menaggio, there are invasions of wild boars and wild animals which, for the entire year, they ruined the crops and deprived the producers of sleep. And, as if that were not enough, sometimes insult is added to the damage: as in the case of a breeder in the province of Lecco which has now been waiting for an estimate of the damage suffered for over three months. A borderline case that takes us back “to the beginning of July, the beginning of haymaking after weeks of bad weather. In those days, my meadows suffered the first invasions, which was followed by my application for damage assessment dated 3 July ”says Valentina Meoli, breeder in Campofiasco di Vendrogno. "Since the crop was ready, I should have received information about the inspectors' visit within seven days.
No answer, neither to that, nor to subsequent instances. The hay, of course, I finally cut it but I still wait. The production of my company has collapsed: from 1.800 bales of hay to 600, a third: the bad weather, of course, has given us its own, but the wild boars prevented me from making four good cuts ... instead we only made three in the meadows flat and even only one in those on high ground. At an economic level, this involves thousands of euros in damages". It is not just the income statement: “Last summer I found wild boars outside my front door, only the presence of the dogs drove them away. We are afraid, here it is not just a question of defending our right to work, but of living in these invaded areas ”.
"It demonstrates that this is no longer an agricultural problem, but safety ”comments Emanuele Bezzi, area secretary of Coldiretti from Lecco. “An alarm, however, recognized by the Prefecture of Lecco, which had called a meeting with the mayors in recent weeks. We await a new meeting which should now establish the actions to be activated ". Meanwhile, the alarm could have a new, further resurgence "even in the face of the large production of chestnuts in our woods: attracted by the fruits, there is the danger that wild boars continue to invade, even more than before, the inhabited areas on the edge of the woods, including the roads that cross them. It is an abundance of food which, moreover, could lead to a greater proliferation of these animals, further increasing a problem that is already out of control ”. For Coldiretti Como Lecco "we have really crossed every limit of reality".
This is confirmed by Fortunato Trezzi, interprovincial president, together with Roberto Magni, vice president and top management of direct farmers in Lecco: “Wild boars that walk quietly in our cities in the early hours of the morning, as happened in Como; wild animals that even invade cemeteries, eating the flowers destined for our loved ones. Reading the news of the last few weeks is to be incredulous ... instead it is all true and documented. As mentioned, we are facing a real social and security alarm, as well as economic as regards businesses, which continue to be invaded from one end of the two provinces to the other. The damage caused in the two provinces last year amounted to 350 thousand euros, in 2019 there will certainly be many more. Agricultural businesses are exasperated and they are right: citizens and motorists are afraid: today, an unpleasant "close encounter" with a wild boar is no longer a remote hypothesis even within the urban boundaries of our cities ... because, in fact, it has already happened and could happen again at any moment ".