Hunting and Fauna: Federcaccia Pesaro-Urbino replies to the statements of Coldiretti Marche contained in a press release on the damage caused by wild boars.
In relation to the Coldiretti Marche press release entitled "Hunting and Fauna: Coldiretti Marche," wild boars, a tax of 4,5 million euros per year "", the FIDC Provincial Section of Pesaro and Urbino, while sharing the drama of the problem of damage to agriculture caused by wild boars, believes it needs to make some clarifications regarding what appeared in the various media, in order to highlight the complexity of the problem , to identify the causes and suggest possible solutions.
The phenomenon of damage in agriculture caused by ungulates has increased in recent years throughout the national territory mainly in relation to two factors:
1. Abandonment of hilly and mountainous areas with consequent increase in wooded and uncultivated areas;
2. Establishment of numerous Protected Areas (Parks, Nature Reserves, Faunal Institutes).
Even in our Province, the spread of wild boar populations, which has had negative implications especially as regards the interference of the wild with certain types of crops, finds its main cause above all in the establishment of protected areas see the Furlo State Nature Reserve , the numerous Regional Forest Demani, the Oasis, etc. In fact, in the territories adjacent to these areas, in the period in which hunting is closed, the greatest damage to agricultural crops is recorded.
We would like to point out that these areas were not established by hunters, nor are they managed by them, but they are poorly managed by Park and Public Bodies, which up to now have never implemented control, management and sampling plans for the species (and other ungulates present) inside them, thus causing considerable damage to the forest / environmental and agricultural heritage. In addition, road accidents caused by the crossing of wild boars and other ungulates on the road are constantly increasing, resulting in a situation of persistent and serious danger to public safety.
It is therefore paradoxical that hunters are pointed out as the cause of the problem, while thanks to hunting thousands of wild boars are taken every year, helping to control this species in the areas open to hunting, thus avoiding that the damage, even if already enormous, becomes really unsustainable. for farms.
In May 2012 the new Regulation on the Management of Ungulates was definitively approved which should enable the ATCs and the Provinces to adopt more incisive measures for the management of ungulates, but the hypothesis that these produce a a drastic reduction of wild populations appears unrealistic, also in consideration of the fact that the Region should have approved the Prevention and Compensation for Damages at the same time as the Ungulates Regulation; indispensable tool for guaranteeing effective damage prevention and establishing uniform criteria at regional level for the procedures for detecting, quantifying and settling damages.
The phenomenon of compensation and the prevention of damage to crops represents a real emergency and an extraordinary legislative measure would be needed, unhooked or parallel to the hunting regulation itself. We also specify that the only resources used to compensate farmers for damage to crops and to compensate for damage caused to road traffic by fauna, come from the "pockets" of hunters through the payment of the Regional Concession Tax and the registration fee to Territorial Areas of Hunting.
We believe that it is essential that a correct management of ungulates affects the entire agricultural - forestry Regional / Provincial territory, therefore also the territory not managed for hunting purposes such as protected areas, obviously with the most suitable tools, to be verified in relation to each type of institute. To tackle this problem there must therefore be unity of purpose between administrations, hunters and farmers, which must be concretized in a correct and effective planning of interventions.
The Provincial FIDC makes itself attentive and available, as always, to collaborate and work together with agricultural associations to implement all the necessary actions to solve this delicate problem, starting with a striking protest action against the managing bodies of these areas which, with their inertia, have compromised and undermine a correct and balanced environmental wildlife management.
Italian Federation of Hunting
Provincial Section of Pesaro and Urbino