THEElba island, the pearl of the Tuscan Archipelago which became a Unesco Reserve in 2003, invaded and devastated by boars that jeopardize the heritage of biodiversity. The Elban community is in revolt from Portoferraio to Marina di Campo, from Capoliveri to Marciana. More than 70 realities of the civil, productive, cultural and environmentalist fabric have adhered to a petition launched by the Committee for the eradication of the wild boar, to ask the Tuscany Region to cancel Elba as an "area dedicated to wild boar hunting", the zero containment of wild boar (as is being implemented on the island dell'Asinara, in Sardinia) the stretch of Elba from Regional wildlife and hunting plan, which is being rewritten.
It is a heartfelt appeal to act, before it is too late and the situation becomes irremediable, the one that arises from Elba addressed to the regional council. The requests of the Committee were also made their own by the statutory auditors, from the entire island community and from the Tuscan Archipelago National Park. "It is a question of recognizing the peculiarity of the insular condition also in relation to the fragility of the ecological balance of a single environment enclosed in a small strip of land and starting, together with the Park, a plan for the zero containment of the wild boar using a Life project, the tool of funding from the European Union for the environment and the climate, or the resources of the NRP ”, says Vittorio Rigoli, agricultural entrepreneur, one of the souls of the Committee for the eradication of wild boar in Elba. “My farm - he says - is located in the Lacona plain.
I have always opposed fences, I think that where it is necessary to define a property or a function of use they can be used hedges or simple fences. But now, like other farmers, I have to fence everything off if I still want to produce something by subtracting the crops from the systematic devastation wrought by wild boars ". The wild boar was introduced in 1963 for hunting purposes only. That of Elba is a hybrid species with a high reproductive capacity. And in fact it has taken over and now threatens the island. "The presence of ungulates, which has grown dramatically, risks eradicating Elban biodiversity and its natural habitats among forests, pine forests, Mediterranean scrub and woods, whose environmental, geological and cultural value has been recognized in the 2003 by Unesco ". Wild boars are now everywhere.
Masters of the island. They wander the streets, on the paths beaten by cyclists and hikers, they wander in search of food devastating the countryside and cultivated fields, vineyards, woods and pine forests and they now go as far as the gardens of the houses and around the tourist activities. They also took over the “Roman Villa delle Grotte” archaeological site and even ruined the “Open air museum Italo Bolano” and the rugby pitch. The massive presence of ungulates constitutes a fatal threat to existing and future agricultural activities. So that damage to private and public property and the danger to people have increased over time. The agricultural crops that resist are all fenced (with serious damage to the landscape and to the movement of native wildlife), under penalty of disappearance by the wild boars.
Damage accounting is extensive, daily. And now swine fever is also scary, which is feared may land on the island finding breeding ground among thousands and thousands of wild boars. Not only. The heritage of biodiversity, with all the wealth of small fauna and plants, is becoming impoverished. The undergrowth has disappeared, the dry stone walls do not withstand the onslaught of animals. The slopes lose stability. The bill is very high: human, economic, landscape, energy. An emergency that involves the entire Elban community. What now does he expect that the Tuscany Region will not delay any longer in developing an effective strategy for the zero containment of ungulates.
The mobilization found the meeting point in the Committee for the eradication of wild boar from Elba which prepared a full-bodied and rigorous dossier of scientific and historical study of the question. On the basis of the study, the Park Community unanimously resolved the urgent request to the Region to revoke the area suitable for wild boar hunting and to prepare an intervention plan aimed at zero containment. The resolution (invoked for years by farms) has been endorsed by the municipal administrations, by the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, by ecological associations and by all economic categories.
“The moment to act is particularly favorable in terms of the possibility of finding the necessary resources using “life” or Pnrr projects - they explain to the Committee - If you miss this train you will have to resign yourself to the definitive devastation of biodiversity and the hydrographic system as well as the countryside and gardens. We remind the Region of its responsibilities. The risk is that the solution of the problem will again be entrusted to the person who generated it, that is hunting organizations. A leap of institutional dignity and political courage is needed to ensure a different ending to this age-old and devastating affair ”(Elba Report).