Hunting and Territory: Abruzzo, the Park will have to compensate for the damage caused by wild boars; this is the ruling resulting from the class action initiated in the autumn by Confagricoltura.
The wild boars had destroyed all of his crops, causing considerable damage to the budget of his farm, and consequently to that of his family. Now the Velino Sirente Regional Park will have to reimburse the farmer in the sum of 7475 euros, in addition to compensation for the costs of litigation set at another 1950 euros. This was decided by the single judge of the Civil Court of Sulmona, Massimo Marasca, who accepted the appeal of AC, a farmer from Castelvecchio Subequo, who had turned to the judiciary at the end of a long tug-of-war with the park that he had only liquidated half of the amount equivalent to the damage.
The process for obtaining compensation for farmers is always full of obstacles and in the end, assuming that something is achieved, the money that returns to the cash register never really repays the damage suffered. The sentence dates back to 11 March. Representing the farmer was the lawyer of the Confagricoltura of L'Aquila, Gianfranco Salutari.
The legal action was taken last autumn by over 100 farmers and ranchers associated with Confagricoltura, against the Province and the Region, to obtain payment for damages caused by wildlife. A real class action, supported by the lawyers of Confagricoltura, born as a result of fiery meetings that took place in various locations in the province (Magliano, Scurcola, Celano, Castelvecchio Subequo and Sulmona), all united by the same destiny: to suffer damage caused by the so-called “wildlife”, which cannot be hunted, among other things, due to the presence of protected areas.
"Farmers and ranchers are fed up with the many chatter and the ways in which the problem of hunting is tackled: on the one hand the environmentalist world that feeds the metropolitan vision of wildlife management - explains Confagricoltura - on the other hunters who, exasperated by the strict rules on hunting, use the agricultural land as if they were their own even to disregard the crops in place. In the middle there are the agricultural producers who, it is not clear why, are forced to suffer damage without anyone paying ". In fact, the damage produced by the hunters who chase them, authorized to cross the borders of private property, are often added to the damage of the wild boars.
“We have said enough - explains the president of Confagricoltura L'Aquila, Fabrizio Lobene - and declared a tough fight against the phenomenon. The sentence of the Court of Sulmona demonstrates the goodness of the trade union protection action carried out by our organization and gives us hope for the possibility of bringing environmentalist and hunting associations back to reasonableness that effectively block any reform that takes into account the interests of agricultural entrepreneurs ".
Judge Marasca has established an important point of principle, which can hardly be ignored in the matter of reimbursements. "The damage produced by wildlife, and therefore by animals that satisfy the enjoyment of the whole community - writes the judge - constitute a natural event that the whole community must take charge of". Confagricoltura suggests to farmers and ranchers to submit claims for compensation to the Province or to the Park Authorities but at the same time bring these Authorities to court directly asking for compensation for damages pursuant to Article 2043 of the Civil Code.
"We are tired of useless teasing - says Vinicio Blasetti president of the provincial zootechnical section of Confagricoltura - this year the Region has committed the total sum of 500.000 euros to the budget, absolutely insufficient given that only in the province of L'Aquila the damage amounts to a few million euros ".
2 April 2014
Source: IlTempo