Need a squeeze for the selecontrol of wildlife with certain times for the preparation of the Regional Plan for the management and control of wild boar. That's what he asked for Coldiretti Puglia, in a letter sent to the Regional Department of Agriculture, referring to the agreement signed between the ATCs of Puglia and the Department of Biology of theUniversity of Bari which must outline the path for the containment of wild boars in Puglia. It is essential - according to Coldiretti Puglia - that the Regional Plan is written and operational within June 2021, also in consideration of the need to adopt suitable measures for the control and containment of wild fauna, in particular of wild boar which causes considerable damage to agricultural activities, health and public health and road traffic.
“The escalation of damage, attacks and accidents that unfortunately also cause victims is the result of the uncontrolled proliferation of wild boars. In Puglia, about 300 road accidents a year caused by wild animals, especially wild boars, a scenario aggravated by the long lockdown that has emptied rural and city roads, allowing for more free movement of wild animals. It is necessary to intervene immediately and with determination against the invasion of wild boars with continuous sightings in the areas of the Alta Murgia and Gargano Park, in the Murgia Barese and Tarantina, in the Dauno Subappennino, near the Mercadante Forest, up to the urban centers ", he claims Savino Muraglia, president of Coldiretti Puglia. Wild boars destroy agricultural crops, cause road accidents but to worry - recalls the regional Coldiretti - are also the health risks caused by spread of diseases such as swine fever. The situation in the rural areas of the Bari Murgia and in Capitanata is particularly serious and unmanageable, especially in the Gargano area where the habitat is particularly favorable.
“This is an unsustainable situation that is causing the abandonment of the internal areas by the population, with social, economic and environmental problems. Farmers but also motorists, road hauliers and occasional patrons are reporting with increasing frequency - denounces Pietro Piccioni, confederal delegate of Coldiretti Foggia - the damage caused by wild boars that live and reproduce mainly in protected natural areas but which inevitably cross over into farms, on the neighboring roads and near the inhabited centers. In the province of Foggia they doubled within ten years, putting at risk not only agri-food production and the hydrogeological structure of the territory, but also the lives of farmers and motorists ”.
La unbridled proliferation of wild boars - adds the regional Coldiretti - is compromising the environmental balance of vast territorial ecosystems even in areas of high naturalistic value. The wild boars reach 180 centimeters in length, can reach two quintals in weight and have tusks that in some cases they reach up to 30 centimeters resulting assimilated to real weapons with deadly consequences for humans and animals as well as becoming instruments of devastation on cultivated and harvested fields. Over 6 out of 10 Italians (62%) - according to the Coldiretti / Ixè survey - are afraid of wild boars and almost half (48%) he would not even take up a home in an area infested with these animals. A situation that has reached the limit, so much so that more than 8 out of 10 Italians (81%) - according to the Coldiretti / Ixè survey - think that the wild boar emergency should be tackled with the use of slaughtering by hiring specialized personnel to reduce the number.