Corriere della Sera, in Sergio Romano's column, hosts an intervention by Bruno Modugno (taken from an article that appeared in the latest issue of Caccia Passione). We must acknowledge the esteemed colleague (and ambassador) Sergio Romano that we are always open to accepting the ideas of others, even if they go a little against the tide, at least in the sensibility of the people of the city who have now forgotten what the relationship with the earth means. It's the nature. The intervention was long and complete, but the editorial staff worked with balance and objectivity to bring it back to the size allowed by the space available.
We report what has been published by Corriere, where however some passages risk remaining obscure. But to complete Modugno's thought, we publish his speech in full:
“We are once again talking about the wild boar emergency and, as always, the fault lies with the hunters, responsible for having introduced into our countryside in the 50s some voracious and prolific subjects from the Danubian plains. This is true, after the war there was the desert. The wild boars, in those few Tyrrhenian areas and in Calabria where they had always been, had been decimated by the hunger of the people, not by the hunters. This is the reason for the repopulations of the 50s. But then the environment, as we know, shapes the species: in our thick spots the tapered grunts of the surviving local wild boars had an easier game, so that after 50 years there is no trace of the gigantic Balkans. Yes, that's right, our boar is a little bigger today and has more children. But that is not the cause of the misadventures in which some people attacked and injured by wild boars have incurred and of the fatal road accidents caused by the herds that scurry along state roads at night. A cause? One of the many, but perhaps the most unprecedented: The grazing period caused by the rise in temperature which increased the food capacity (acorns, chestnuts and other fruits of the forest) and therefore doubled the parts in the year. The abandonment of crops and the increase in wooded areas where other old and new guests have appeared such as deer, roe deer, fallow deer and mouflons which, if not controlled by careful and selective hunting, can cause damage not only to human work and damage to road safety, but limit the development of forests. And most of all, the deer. Which have been released throughout Italy by the Forestry of Tarvisio. Years ago, an entire herd that roamed the Brunello vineyards was exterminated by the disasters it was causing. There it was not a question of vile corn, but of a wine from 40 euros (base price) per bottle! Another cause? The parks, also known as "the mother of the boar". There they live undisturbed (except in those protected areas where selection hunting is foreseen). There they reproduce and take refuge after the nocturnal forays into agricultural crops. That is why they drive around in herds on the national roads causing accidents that are often fatal. And who lives in a park? If you find them at home as aggressive cohabitants. I live in Rome on the border between the Parco di Veio and the Parco dell'Insugherata. The wild boars come out in the communal garden and graze in the meadows of the Acqua Traversa. Not at night, even in broad daylight blocking traffic due to people who suddenly stop to take pictures with their mobile phones. And the hunters? What do they have to do with it? I swear to you that they will do everything they can to solve the problem, even when hunting is closed, in parks and where the provinces authorize selective killing especially at the expense of females and young classes. Now for the first time I heard a word of common sense on the news. The head of agricultural policies and farmers are asking for the collaboration of hunters to solve the wild boar emergency.
Bruno Modugno President of the Ethics Commission CIC (Conseil International de la Chasse et de la Conservation du Gibier)