The most anticipated guests of the evening
A meeting wanted by Federcaccia Piemonte with Federcaccia Lombardy and Federcaccia Liguria to make the institutions aware of the real problems linked to African swine fever, to also send a message to the Government to change the rules if the problem is to be solved. Very specific requests arrived on the plate of the Undersecretary for Agriculture, Sen. Patrizio La Pietra and the Extraordinary Commissioner for African swine fever Vincenzo Caputo, the most awaited guests of the evening which took place in Acqui Terme, in the province of Alessandria: recognition from the Government and regional institutions for the work of the hunters, openness to self-consumption for animals collected even in infected areas and the possibility of extending the collection period for wild boar hunting. The objective was to arrive at a change of pace for a stable situation, even at a Lombard level, as reported a few weeks ago by Federcaccia Lombardia itself, in the presence of the national President Massimo Buconi during the evening. Representing the hunting world of Lombardy and Bergamo was the regional President of Federcaccia Lorenzo Bertacchi.
The current rules
“I come from a Region that to date has had to deal with the PSA in Pavia and Milan - explained Bertacchi during the conference -. Let's talk about the areas where we can go hunting and where at a national level prevention could be done easily with effective depopulation and it is not done. Today we are at the limit of the hunting effort with the current rules: it is useless to envisage a plan of 27 thousand wild boars if with a plan of 15 thousand we have managed 12 thousand. If the simple rules of engagement, the ones with which we go hunting, do not change, we cannot do more. Is it possible that due to a national emergency it is not possible to extend the hunt even by just one month? In Lombardy, this would result in a 20% increase with an extra month of hunting: if we don't do this we won't exceed 12 thousand wild boars. In Bergamo we have had a population explosion since the provincial police interrupted control activities because they were afraid to involve hunters: now they can do it by law, but they are waiting for the implementation measures and since 2018 no interventions have been carried out in the protection oases , become “boar factories”! Another topic concerns the type of wild boar hunting: hunting and selection are complementary forms of hunting, they cannot exclude each other. The problem will also exist in the future, because the wild boars will return and the hunters will either no longer exist or there will be very few of them having reached the age limit: this is the result of forty years of animal rights ideology on television and in schools”.
Self-consumption of hunted meat
During the evening, Undersecretary La Pietra took on the responsibility of pushing within the government to extend the hunting period for wild boar hunting teams and to effectively clarify the practice of self-consumption for meat hunted in the PSA area despite compliance with particular conditions that do not compromise safety. The commitment of hunters in combating ASF was recognized by all the institutional representatives present, starting with the Commissioner, who reiterated how he has always considered the hunting world an essential ally in the fight against the disease. Now, however, we must move from words to actions, both in the infected areas, and above all in those where it has not yet arrived, by doing prevention, thanks to the presence of hunters. There was no shortage of focused critical points and aspects that negatively impact the effort to achieve a significant depopulation rate of the wild boar species: from logistical problems such as the lack of control centers, to the limited number of public veterinarians responsible for the analyses, to the points of disposal of the remains, to the patchy application throughout the national territory of the control plan and its rules.
How to eradicate the disease
Together with Dr. Caputo and Senator La Pietra, the conference brought together a parterre of speakers directly invested in various capacities and levels with the task of tackling, stopping and possibly eradicating the disease. The Vice President of the Piedmont Region with delegation to the PSA Fabio Carosso, the Piedmontese Regional Councilor for Agriculture Marco Protopapa, the Councilor for Economic Development of the Liguria Region Alessio Piana, the Honorable Francesco Bruzzone (Lega) and Antonella were present and spoke. Forattini (PD), both members of the Agriculture Commission of the Chamber, the councilor of the Piedmont Region Claudio Leone as well as the regional presidents of Federcaccia. “I consider the commitments made by politicians to be very important to reach the solution to a problem that absolutely requires the need to work together as a team between all the actors involved,” declared President Buconi. The framework drawn, the requests made and the responses received are extremely concrete. I consider this conference an important step in the comparison between institutions, politics and the hunting world in identifying problems and solutions related to swine fever". (Source FEDERCACCIA LOMBARDIA)