«An indispensable figure for cut down on wild boars". Thus the provincial councilor of Alexandria Stefano Zoccola, delegate to hunting, defines the tutor, a role assigned to landowners who can be called by farmers who are victims of wild boars, subject to the authorization of the Province. “We had to stop at 500 Guests - explains Zoccola -, despite having received many more questions. Since he was introduced, the tutor has proved to be fundamental in reducing the damage caused by wild boar ». The tutor, in fact, can shoot all year round and even at night. It can act preventively at the request of the farmer who fears devastation, perhaps after a sowing.
There were many knocking on the door of the Province and for many there was exclusion. «There are about a hundred unauthorized persons - specifies Zoccola -, but now we mean select authorized tutors based on the results obtained, that is, how many wild boars they killed. In this way, those who have not worked well will be replaced by those who have been excluded ». According to Zoccola, tutors who have carried out an adequate number of killing are actually a minority. Another path that the Province intends to take is use the funds received from the Region to incentivize what is technically called "crop protection", in reality the killing of wild boars: "Turin has allocated 68 thousand euros for the province. The goal is to use this sum also to pay the petrol vouchers to the first hundred tutors ».
The Province, argues Zoccola, does not have many alternatives to protect crops: "We have only 25 provincial guards on a very large area: it is impossible to think of addressing the problem with these numbers". If the institution considers the use of tutors to be satisfactory, Robert Prando, president of the hunting areas (Atc) Al3 and Al4, thinks differently: "The Province has not made any selection among the 500 authorized: a firearm license and a course of just four hours of wild boar hunting are enough. There are people who are unable to shoot during the day and now they can do it even at night. In the two Atc that I preside over, I have limited the use of these figures ». According to Prando, from January to August in the Acquese and Ovada ATC, “just fifty wild boars were killed by the tutors. In the same period, thanks to the selecontrollers, in the Tortona ATC and Val Borbera we hit 160. I remember that in the selection hunt the days are respected and you pay to be able to shoot, unlike the tutors, which is impossible to control. We have had cases of tutors authorized to hunt in poplar fields, where wild boars do no harm "(The print).