«The emergency due to the numerous presence of wild boars on our territory is a well-known critical issue. On several occasions - said Vincenzo Gottardo, vice president of Province of Padua with delegation to the Civil Protection - I was able to carry out inspections together with the technicians of the Province in the municipalities most affected by the phenomenon, in the areas adjacent to the Regional Park of the Euganean Hills (Este and Ospedaletto Euganeo), noting that in a single night raid these animals are capable of destroy a year's work and cause enormous economic damage to farms already hit hard by the crisis ».
"The problem of the presence of wild boars can hardly be solved with the sole contribution, albeit important and fundamental, of volunteering (selecontrollers) engaged in the sole management of the "manhole covers": it becomes necessary to enable him to use weapons, now banned by the regional control plan for the application of art. 21 of Law 157/92 which sets limits in relation to the distance from roads and buildings. In addition, the now well-known lack of uniformed personnel of the Provincial Police Corps and Services which by law coordinate the voluntary service coming from the hunting world, not only in the case of wild boars, but also of all the other invasive species that are added to the calculation of the enormous damage to agricultural production ».
«Even the reform of the Provincial Police therefore requires an urgent and fast change of pace in order to optimize the activities aimed at controlling invasive fauna that only agents in uniform can carry out, regardless of the limitations placed on other subjects. In fact, there are many problematic species: corvids (magpies, gray crows), otters, American gray squirrels, not to mention cold-blooded species such as exotic fish and turtles that are supplanting the native species that populate our waterways and wetlands ». "Resuming the delicate problem of wild boars that are colonizing the area of Este and Ospedaletto Euganeo outside the Euganean Hills Regional Park, I believe that it is above all fundamental two actions to be taken in the short term to make control more effective: modify the current Control Plan approved by the Veneto Region with DGR Veneto n. 1155/2017 which currently provides for the respect of distances from roads and homes provided for by art. 21 of Law 157/92.
The prescription effectively prevents the involvement of trained operators in rifle shooting operations. Actually, the same ones, operating from rooftops as foreseen by the same Control Plan, would already do so in complete safety; the limitation of wild boar escaping from the Euganean Hills Park with electro-welded meshes in the busiest transit areas and the increase in killing and capture activities. The installation of the nets should also be carried out outside the Parco Colli, to prevent wild boars from colonizing new territories with consequent damage to crops spread across the plains". "The wild emergency - concluded Vincenzo Gottardo - shows that only an effective and serious collaboration between Public Bodies, Agricultural Associations, agricultural entrepreneurs and the hunting world can lead to circumscribing the problem and containing it effectively, without prejudice to the urgent need for staff strengthening and vehicles of the Provincial Police Corps and Services ».