An exaggerated proliferation of certain species of animals can cause serious damage to the ecosystem of certain areas as well as serious damage to crops as is often seen lately in many regions of Italy.
For some time this problem has arisen in the insular areas of Tuscany where the proliferation of ungulates in a small slice of territory causes damage to agriculture every year for millions of euros.
This time the problem is highlighted by the president of the Province of Grosseto, Leonardo Marras, who comments on the situation as follows: "As for the boars in Elba, it is appropriate to "eradicate" i mouflons at Giglio. The two species are not indigenous but imported by man. A lot of damage to agriculture ”.
Marras tries to insert the problem into the discussion already underway concerning the wild boar management on the island of Elba, within the wider Tuscan Archipelago, and explains: "I do not want to carry out a" field invasion "in a territory beyond my competence but as a member of the park community I wanted to engage in the discussion because I was interested in a problem analogous concerning the province of Grosseto; and in fact if there is the problem of the wild boar on the island of Elba, there is a similar one that concerns the presence of the mouflon at Giglio. The two situations have many similarities: the two species were not naturally present on the islands but were imported by man at different times ".
According to Marras, given that the two species are not indigenous to the islands, therefore their presence can only cause negative effects as is already widely documented: "This is reported by farmers who see crops devastated but also by tour operators who complain of damage to hedges and flower beds" .
The president then continues, “It is true that we have similar problems with wild boar also on the mainland, in the rest of our province. But the wild boar has always been here. It may have been "bastardized" with subjects other than the original ones, but this species was hunted by Etruscans and Romans, at the time of Medici and Lorraine, and today with the Maremma ". On the other hand, on the islands of Elba and Giglio, Marras continues, wild boars and mouflons have been introduced relatively recently.
Following these considerations, Marras proposes to the park managing body the solution of "eradication" through the methods of slaughter and capture as has already been proposed for the island of Elba.