An increasingly present epidemic
It can be read as a moment of reflection and evaluation of what has been done so far, but it certainly also constituted a change of pace in dealing with an increasingly present epidemic, the conference on PSA organized on Friday 17 November in Acqui Terme, in the province of Alessandria, by the regional Federcaccia Federations of Piedmont, Lombardy and Liguria with the participation of the national President Massimo Buconi. It could not have been otherwise, given the presence of the government leaders directly involved in the problem, represented by the Undersecretary for Agriculture, Sen. Patrizio La Pietra and the Extraordinary Commissioner for African swine fever, Dr. Vincenzo Caputo. They were obviously the most awaited interventions, and they did not disappoint the room in terms of availability and completeness of responses to both the hunters and the institutional representatives present. Among the substantial innovations is the commitment made personally by Undersecretary La Pietra to implement at Government level the possibility expressed by the Extraordinary Commissioner of extending the hunting period for wild boar teams and to effectively clarify the practice of self-consumption for meat hunted in the PSA area while respecting particular conditions that do not compromise safety.
Hunters' requests
A response to the numerous requests in this sense coming from hunters to reiterate that even in the exercise of what is in all respects a public service the category does not want to derogate from that hunting ethic which also finds in consumption an expression of respect for the wild shot. The hunters' commitment to combating ASF found the utmost recognition from all the institutional representatives present, starting from the Commissioner, who reiterated how he has always considered the hunting world an essential ally in the fight against the disease. Obviously not all lights on the PSA issue. There was no shortage of focused critical points and aspects that negatively impact the effort to achieve a significant depopulation rate of the wild boar species: from logistical problems such as the lack of control centers; the limited number of public veterinarians responsible for the analyses; the points of disposal of the remains; to the patchy application throughout the national territory of the control plan and its rules, interpreted by some in an absurdly restrictive way, further limiting the areas or groups of sampling for a species that must instead be reduced.
The interventions of the conference
Also in this sense, the Undersecretary is committed to greater homogeneity of application and the elimination of bureaucratic or other obstacles. Together with Dr. Caputo and Senator La Pietra, the conference brought together a parterre of non-representative speakers, but all directly invested in various capacities and levels with the task of tackling, stopping and possibly eradicating the disease. The Vice President of the Piedmont Region with responsibility for the PSA Fabio Carosso were present and spoke with their contributions; the Piedmontese regional councilor for agriculture Marco Protopapa; the Councilor for Economic Development of the Liguria Region Alessio Piana; the honorable Francesco Bruzzone (Lega) and Antonella Forattini (PD), both members of the Agriculture Commission of the Chamber; the councilor of the Piedmont Region Claudio Leone; the regional Presidents of FIdC Liguria Andrea Campanile and Lombardy Lorenzo Bertacchi, as well as of course the regional President of Piedmont Guido Dellarovere, who also excellently moderated the proceedings.
Not just hunters
In addition to many hunters of all acronyms - representatives of other hunting associations also present in the room - the members of ATC and CA of the regions involved. Also present for Federcaccia were the Coordinator of the hunters Isabella Villa and the Coordinator of the young Federcacciatori, Paolo Di Bella as well as numerous provincial managers from Liguria, Piedmont and Lombardy. “I am particularly satisfied with the success of this latest initiative by Federcaccia to bring together the hunting world and institutions at the highest levels on a thorny and difficult topic like the PSA, which has seen us involved from the first moment” declared President Buconi at the end of the Conference. “I thank Federcaccia Piemonte and its President Dellarovere for organizing it together with Lombardy and Liguria and everyone who enthusiastically agreed to participate, in particular Undersecretary La Pietra and Commissioner Caputo. I consider what has been heard and the commitments made by politicians to be very important to reach the solution to a problem that absolutely requires the need to work together as a team between all the actors involved. The framework drawn, the requests made and the responses received are extremely concrete. I consider this conference an important step in the comparison between institutions, politics and the hunting world in identifying problems and solutions related to swine fever. Our commitment does not end here – concluded Buconi – but the work in favor of hunters and the solution to the problem will continue, concrete and without decline” (source: FIDC).