The heat intensifies the presence of wild animals even in ornamental nurseries, attracted by ditches and by the humidity guaranteed by modern drip irrigation systems, which ensure the efficient use of water. Particularly, minilepri and wild boars gnaw and break the spaghetti, the tubes that carry water to the plant in nurseries with pottery systems. "The excess of wild animals is now a pathology, but we must avoid it becoming a degenerative disease - he comments Coldiretti Pistoia- following the reports of its shareholders who highlight a situation that is getting worse and worse ".
“Spaghetti - he explains Paolo Niccolai, nurseryman of the Coldiretti network - they are very useful and fragile. They are easily broken by wild boars in their raids in the pottery looking for earthworms and gnawed by minilepri, who use them to file their incisors to replace the bark of trees ". The minilepre is a non-native species, with a remarkable reproduction rate, which, like ungulates, makes life difficult for agricultural entrepreneurs even in areas clearly not suited to the presence of wildlife, such as the plain of Pistoia nurseries where the presence should be 0. The damage to companies is mostly indirect. A broken and unsubstituted tube causes the specific plant to dry out within 2-3 days during the hot period. Constant patrols are required to limit losses, especially in pot nurseries.
“Last summer - Niccola explains - on a small area of 1200 square meters we carried out three checks a week between June and September, looking for broken spaghetti to replace them. A cost not just considering the small extension: between plants, however dried, replacement of tubes and above all labor around 2 thousand euros". The fight becomes unequal and the solutions are not easy - concludes Coldiretti Pistoia-. The first step is sharing news, so that there is awareness across society that the excess of wild animals is not a problem only for farms that lose production due to pigeons, wild boars or deer. Too many wild animals are a problem for road traffic and for the safety of all citizens who now encounter wild boars in parks and on the beaches.