The contribution of the Region
The Emilia-Romagna Region has doubled the funds for 2024 to address the nutria emergency, both in relation to damage to agriculture and in terms of hydraulic safety resulting from the excavation of the banks by these animals. For the year 2024 alone, 600 thousand euros of regional resources have been allocated to implement the control plans on fossoria in addition to those for the wild boar species. In this regulatory context, the Provincial Police of Ferrara joined the experimental project to reduce nutria with a 2020 caliber compressed air rifle in 22, with excellent results, reaching 50% of the total number of those killed across the entire regional territory.
Eradication interventions
The numbers of these measures were illustrated yesterday in the prefecture in Ferrara by the regional councilor for Agriculture, Alessio Mammi, during a meeting to take stock of the nutria eradication interventions in the province of Ferrara with the prefect, Massimo Marchesiello, and together to Coldiretti, Confagricoltura and Cia and to the president of the Ferrara Plain Reclamation, Stefano Calderoni. Also present at the meeting were the Commander of the Provincial Police Roberta Artioli, and the director of the State Police, Sergio Russo. Nutria are a long-standing problem in the Ferrara area, particularly favorable to this animal given the network of waterways extending for approximately 4.200 kilometres.
The identified areas
The area of intervention of the containment action includes 42 areas identified in the Municipality of Copparo, then, continuing from the North-East towards the South, Mesola, Codigoro, Comacchio, a part of the Gallare between Fiscaglia and Ostellato and the entire Mezzano district for a total area of 27.529 hectares, equal to just over 15% of the total cultivable area of approximately 180.000 hectares in the province of Ferrara. Among the new measures introduced recently are the reduction of non-firing, just as the possibility of using private companies has also been expanded.
Expense reporting
The regional resources for fossorial animals were divided among the provincial territories based on the length of the river banks present in the provincial area, added to the length of the canals with embankments of at least one meter in height. At the request of the Provincial Police, the possibility of compensating the quotas assigned for each species (fossori and wild boar) based on specified allocation criteria but also on territorial peculiarities, up to the maximum overall amount recognized for each territory, was also integrated. The reporting of these expenses will also be carried out twice a year, to speed up payments to the provinces.