Hunting and Fauna. New step forward in the eradication project of African swine fever in Sardinia with the definition of a provision that regulates the wild boar hunting.
The Presidency of the Region has issued a fourth implementing measure of the Extraordinary Program for the eradication of African swine fever (ASF) 2015-2017, relating to the eradication of the disease in the populations of boars wild and farmed. The measure aims to ensure epidemiological surveillance on wild boars and to regulate the hunting of these animals in the areas of restriction for ASF.
The sanitary measures envisaged concern, in particular: the register of hunters and the database of the agritourism-hunting companies; areas under concession for self-managed hunting and wild boar farms; the prohibitions and obligations of hunters throughout the region; the additional obligations of hunters in macro-areas not infected with ASF and in those infected in the wild; epidemiological surveillance; the measures to be taken in the event of suspicion or confirmation of the presence of the disease in feral pigs and in the event of finding of live wild boars; compulsory training.
The head of the project unit for the eradication of the PSA and director general of the presidency of the region, Alessandro De Martini, illustrated to the Sardinian hunting associations, gathered on the first floor of the Tower of viale Trento, the fourth implementation measure of the extraordinary eradication of Psa 2015-2017, concerning wild and farmed wild boar populations.
The face-to-face was attended by a delegation of technicians from the Forestry Corps and the Department of the Environment and Health, as well as the regional presidents of Federcaccia, Franco Sciarra, of the Sardinian Hunter Union, Bonifacio Cuccu, and of Hunting, Fishing and Environment , Marco Efisio Pisanu.
Below are the details of the provision.
Objectives and interventions.
Article 1 of the provision defines the sanitary measures to combat Psa in wild boars by focusing on the epidemiological surveillance of the species and on the regulation of hunting in restricted areas due to Psa outbreaks. Article 2, on the other hand, intervenes in mapping and regulating the register of hunters, the database of agritourism-hunting companies, the concession areas for self-managed hunting and wild boar farms.
In fact, by March 1 of each year, the Department of Environmental Defense must communicate to the Head of the Project Unit (Udp) the list of areas under concession for the exercise of self-managed hunting and their respective presidents, the list of wild boar farms for study or restocking purposes and their respective owners, the register of Sardinian hunters updated to the previous hunting season and data on game bags, referring to wild boars, on a provincial basis and divided by decades. Always by March 1 of each year, the Department of Agriculture and Agro-Pastoral Reform must instead communicate the list of all agri-tourism-hunting companies and their respective owners, specifying those that breed and / or introduce wild boars.
Prohibitions and obligations of hunters.
The provision places an absolute prohibition, throughout the region, from abandoning parts of carcasses or entrails of wild boars killed during hunting in the countryside or hunting wild boar in wandering form. The only form of hunting allowed is in fact that carried out by a hunting company. Also by 1 March, these companies must communicate to the veterinary services of the competent territorial ASL, to the Forestry and Environmental Surveillance station, which draw up a specific list, the name of the contact person responsible for the boar hunting company and the address, with coordinates. GPS and locality, of the place where the wild boars are collected to be gutted and sectioned.
Census and training.
"In the coming weeks we will start first with the census of the hunting companies and then with the training of hunters, to be carried out with the collaboration of the hunting associations".
The head of the De Martini project unit said this on the sidelines of the meeting, adding: "Keeping an eye on the state of health of wild boars compared to the PSA, through the collection of samples and tissues in animals killed or found dead in campaigns, is a fundamental step in strengthening our interventions in the eradication of African swine fever. The provision closed today - concluded the Director General of the Presidency - has been integrated and enriched with the suggestions and ideas of the hunting associations, which I am sure will continue to collaborate in this project in which the Regional Council and the Regional Council have invested so much ".
(19 October 2015)
Sardinia Region