The Province of Asti authorizes farmers to defend their crops from wild boars also through hunting according to the principle of self-defense of crops.
According to a specific resolution of the Province of Asti, all owners or tenants of agricultural land are authorized to defend their crops from wild boars by limiting the proliferation of the species through hunting.
The measure comes as a result of the incessant pressure from Coldiretti and after the endless discussions about the ineffectiveness of teams organized by hunters in the solution of the problem which in recent years has seen an increase in the damage caused to crops; in fact, the attempts to contain the species with the sun have been successful team hunts.
Thanks to the new resolution, in fact, farmers with a regular license for hunting, by submitting a specific request for authorization, will be able to shoot down the boars boundless in their own land or of which they are conductors according to the principle of self-defense.
Farmers will be able to keep the culled animals exclusively for their own consumption therefore they will have to immediately provide for the slaughter and take the samples to be sent later to the health authority.
The initiative of the Province, currently only experimental, is already raising the controversy of the insiders, teams of wild boar in the front row, but according to the director of Coldiretti Asti, Antonio Ciotta, instead this measure is more in line with current legislation on the subject and ear: "The so-called teams of" wild boar ", Have divided the territory excluding the possibility for other hunters to intervene in their areas, moreover the law entrusts the hunter with the task of implementing the containment plans of the species precisely to safeguard crops and maintain the correct numerical balance of the fauna ".
Ciotta continues, “We can therefore say that the exercise of the hunting activity is subordinated to the status of owner or tenant of the funds. Our impression has always been that these teams, formed by a very limited number of hunters, could act out of convenience, killing a small number of animals every year, in order to proliferate the species rather than activate its effective containment ".
Furthermore, it is clear from the new provision that the primary objective of the same is "to remove wild boars from crops" therefore it is in any case "forbidden to feed wild boars as it would have the effect of attracting other animals" on the grounds.
In recent years the damage to crops caused by ungulates but it is not possible to trace the animals killed in order to understand if they have been sold to catering companies.
The provincial president of Coldiretti, Maurizio Soave, is satisfied for the initiative “A measure that immediately reaches the goal of balancing the same relationships between hunters; teams for hunting wild boar have always aroused the anger of excluded hunters, especially hunters who own land and farmers ”.
Furthermore, Soave continues, “The main objective of the provision is in any case to aim to restore balance to the fauna present on agricultural land, through self-defense killing. In fact, no one better than those who live with the work of the fields, can be able to maintain a presence of animals suitable for the natural balance. In itself, contrary to what is sometimes said, no animal is harmful: it is enough to maintain an adequate density for the territory ".