It is not just a question of urban decor, the invasion of wild boars in the streets and in the Italian cities - not only Rome - it now represents a danger to people's lives. The animals, increased in number especially after the lockdown, in fact, cause an accident every two days: in 2020 16 were the victims and 215 were injured. Now seeing them wandering around the streets - and often also on the highway -, in city parks and in the countryside it seems to have become the norm. According to the available data, in fact, the specimens would be about two million, so much so that over one in four Italian adults (26%) says they have encountered a wild boar at least once in their life.
The situation became even more critical during the Covid-19 emergency: with the half-empty streets the animals in search of food have ventured on roads that are still never beaten until they get used to frequenting city spaces. Now that's the cities though they have resumed their usual rhythms, road accidents caused by unfortunate encounters are increasingly frequent: in the last ten years, the number of serious accidents with deaths and injuries caused by animals, Coldiretti says on Aci Istat data, has almost doubled (+ 81 %) on provincial roads. What happened last October 8 in Turin, on the Asti ring road, where a herd crossed the road, creates a good idea a rear-end collision.
An ambulance with a patient on board and two other cars were involved, causing two injuries and blocking traffic for two hours. Road accidents are just one of the effects of the uncontrolled increase in animals: there are 200 million euros in damages in the countryside, without considering the risks associated with the alteration of environmental balances and the possible spread of diseases such as swine fever (TGCOM24).