There are many reports that are arriving in these days at the offices of Co. to denounce the abnormal proliferation of pheasants, in particular within the Mezzano valley, which are devastating entire fields of arable land. It is not a "new" presence but currently animals they are objectively numerous, for a series of reasons related to the application of the Regional Hunting Wildlife Plan. In fact, it was not possible to carry out the usual capture operations due to the spread of avian, registered in the migratory birds of the territory.
Furthermore, the control of the fauna is usually carried out by teams even composed of forty or fifty assistants who could have created gatherings, with the risk of spreading Covid-19. Despite the legitimate and prudential reasons of the Region, the concern remains because entire fields of corn, soybeans and sunflowers have been literally erased from this mainly herbivorous species, which no bollard can remove, as explained by Fabiana Protti, owner of one of the many companies that are suffering damage. «The problem - says the entrepreneur - started with corn in mid-March, and has continued with soy and then with sunflower that we have recently sown.
We sow, the plants begin to vegetate by sprouting from the ground and, as a historical TV presenter said: lunch is served. We are of course using the dissuasion systems indicated by the Region for wildlife damage prevention, but they are not effective. Moreover, the balloons, with the strong wind these days, tend to fly away even if well fixed so they are a system that I would define "fallible" in certain climatic conditions and to which animals tend to get used to ». «I understand - continues the producer - that the particular health situation has prevented the full application of the control plans, however between otters that ravage canal banks, hares that damage crops and even equipment such as irrigation hoses and now pheasants, we fail to protect our crops and therefore our incomes ».
The only solution, Protti argues, “would be to continuously monitor the fields, but of course in addition to being uneconomical it is also impossible for those who cultivate large areas as those in the Mezzano usually are. Another problem is that from the agricultural year 2019-20 the tanning of seeds with neonicotinoids is no longer allowed which, in addition to having some insecticide efficacy, were also repellent for the fauna and therefore we have another "weapon" less "(The New Ferrara).