Today the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies has sent a note to the recognized national hunting associations regarding the confirmation of cases of ASF in wild boar populations in the region Piemonte and to advance the request for collaboration from hunters to cope with the spread of the virus. In particular, the Ministry asked the Associations to make every effort to raise awareness among hunters "on the health emergency in question, both in reference to the infected area and in the rest of the Italian territory, recommending scrupulous compliance with biosecurity measures to be held during the hunting activity (eg disposal of viscera, environmental contamination, limitation of the use of dogs), for which it would be appropriate to undertake specific training and information courses ".
In addition to correct information, the Ministry stressed the importance of involvement of hunters in the search for wild boar carcasses, and to support the collection of data and information relating to wild boars killed during hunting. Reiterating its full willingness to collaborate in any useful action that will be identified and requested in order to limit and eradicate the disease, Federcaccia responded by also reminding the Ministry that since last year and even more in recent days, it has undertaken a capillary raising awareness of hunters throughout the national territory, disseminating both the material made available by the Ministry of Health and the documents of its Studies and Research Office.
President Buconi, however, underlined how the only raising awareness of the hunting world on the subject is not sufficient to guarantee effective action to combat the ASF phenomenon, requiring that the competent authorities (MIPAAF, Ministry of Health, Regions, Asl) involve the hunting world as soon as possible by making specific requests and coordinating an operational use that concretely serves as a barrier to spread of the virus for a quick exit from the state of emergency and a return to normal activities in the areas affected by the measures of the last few hours.