La LAV (Anti-Vivisection League) posted a note to comment on the Roman situation relating to wild boars, harshly criticizing an episode that took place a few days ago. Here is what we read in the press release: "We are bewildered by what happened a few days ago in Vigna Clara, a northern district of Rome. A peaceful boar, loved and known by the inhabitants of the area, who had nicknamed him Poldo, was drugged, taken away and subsequently killed ", declares Anna L. Cavalli, head of the LAV office in Rome, regarding the news of the death. of the wild boar Poldo. The animal used to approach the inhabited center in search of food, coming from the protected area of the Insugherata Reserve.
On Saturday morning he was lying in the green area of via del Podismo when the municipal agents with the veterinary services, intervened on the spot, activated the “wild boar killer” protocol. The case of Poldo brings to mind the tragic and unjustified killing of a wild boar mother and her young in 2020 in the Mario Moderni park, in via della Cava Aurelia, despite strong protests from citizens. Without the adoption of adequate measures that exclude the use of killing, the presence of wild boars in Rome will continue to be an unsolved problem.
Wild boars go to the city in search of food, attracted by waste that is not collected regularly. We need a real prevention program with street cleaning, park fencing and the start of a study project on immunocontraception. We cannot allow the boar issue to be tackled with the killing of animals. We wonder at what point is the promised redefinition of the useless in part, harmful to the other party, the so-called "Boar Killer" Protocol of Understanding of 2019, signed by the Lazio Region, Metropolitan City of Cagliari and Roma Capitale, and approved by the Capitoline Assembly.
It is urgent to start a discussion table between animal welfare associations, the Municipality and the Region in order to suspend the memorandum of understanding "Wild boar killer". We will ask for the autopsy report of the killed boar. Beyond the evident and clear ethical aspects, it should also be considered that the culling policies have not produced the predetermined result of the numerical containment of wild boars. Killing the adults of these animals triggers a compensatory response in fertility. The specimens increase in number and are dispersed throughout the territory. Civil and bloodless solutions are needed. We reiterate our no to killings".