An emergency that must be addressed as soon as possible
“The bottom of 200 thousand euros in favor of the Municipalities of Basilicata for the purchase of traps intended for catching wild boars, although it represents a laudable attempt to deal with the wild boar emergency, it does not solve the problem. It is necessary to speed up the approval of the ungulate culling plan as agreed at the table with the trade associations and councilor Galella". Thus Cia-Agricoltori Potenza-Matera underlined "the urgency of implementing, as soon as possible, everything foreseen in the plan to deal organically, and with all available tools, the emergency experienced, first and foremost, by the owners of farms, motorists and citizens". For Cia Potenza and Matera "the long presence of wild boars even in Potenza, the continuous road accidents caused (there were more than 300 in one year), the constant alarm in inhabited centers testify that the effort made with the 3 thousand wild boars killed, with the technique of the turn and the fixed stakeout, in the first half of 2023, it is not enough. We need to rebalance the population-wildlife-territorial ratio as soon as possible and this can only be done by intensifying hunting and harvesting activities of ungulates".
Damage to agriculture
In recalling that the annual amounts of damage to agriculture have fluctuated in recent years between 14,6 and 18,7 million euros, with an annual average of over 17 million euros and in Basilicata alone between 1,5 and 2 million of euros per year to which to add the damages caused by car accidents, Cia Potenza-Matera insists on the rapid definition of the procedures for awarding the integrated service and in the actions envisaged and to be activated in order to stem increasingly significant damages and dangers to the detriment of agricultural and livestock companies and citizens. It is a question of making up for the delay accumulated in the implementation of measures that should have been implemented some time ago.
Strategic actions
Among the proposed and planned strategic actions there are: compensation for hunters which should make it possible to broaden the number of material perpetrators of killings through the assignment of compensation for the expenses incurred; the provision of "manhole covers" to farmers with incentives for installation and management; the provision of a collection service for killed wild boars; collaboration with the Veterinary Service is fundamental for efficient health monitoring; the location of a suitable number of cold rooms; vehicles for logistics and carcass collection activities; activation of wild boar meat processing centers. For Cia, it is important to be able to count on an organic program of interventions also due to the effect of extraordinary situations linked to the areas of the 29 Municipalities affected by the PSA, territories in which it is necessary to act according to specific and more rigid rules for abatement and sampling. According to Lucanian farmers, more can and must be done, the future of our agriculture and the income of thousands of companies is at stake (source: CIA).