I boars they prefer the quality of the precious yellow muscat. Precisely the grape from which Fior d'Arancio is obtained, the wine of excellence from Euganean production it is the one brutally assaulted by ungulates these days. So much so as to induce agricultural producers to already start the harvests, normally set for after August, in order to subtract significant quantities of production from the ravenous jaws of wild animals. From Teolo to Vo, from Torreglia to Galzignano, not to mention Este, Baone and Arquà, the scenes that occur punctually every dawn in the eyes of the winegrowers are in fact the same. Night time, herds of wild boars, in search of water they cannot find, quench their thirst by targeting the bunches of white grapes by now ready, preferring the more sugary one.
Not content with devouring the lowest clusters, wild heads easily target even those out of their reach. To reach them the animals climb with the front legs on the back of the other packmates, thus stripping entire vineyards. Little or nothing can do the electrified fences that some producers have equipped themselves to secure the most precious vineyards. The pack tactics in fact require that a specimen act as a ram suffering the electric shock, to open a breach to the other specimens of the group. The onslaught of ungulates is therefore another consequence of the drought afflicting crops.
But it certainly remains one of the most worrying phenomena it has induced recently Coldiretti to ask the Government as a matter of urgency for an amendment to the law, now 30 years old, which still limits the period and scope of killing of animals. And thus to ensure the Regions more effective selection and control plans in protected areas. «Not by chance - underlined the president of Coldiretti of Padua, Massimo Bressan - the wild boar emergency was one of the five critical situations brought to the attention of the Government by the national assembly of the association. We expect the recently approved regional control plan to be made operational as quickly as possible in our territory even in the face of the concrete risk posed by the spread of swine fever carried by herds of ungulates ».
In the meantime, starting from the Vò area, one of the most affected by the assault on wild boar grapes, the farms are already preparing the operations for the harvest. The harvest already anticipated due to the persistent heat, will take place in an anomalous period precisely to prevent new raids. Waiting a few more days would in fact mean leaving whole rows of ungulates to the appetites of muscat and chardonnay, with a loss of production with which companies and wineries are already dealing (Il Gazzettino).