Wildlife damage, for Confagricoltura Umbria the regional and national regulations, in particular in the wild boar management, have been disregarded. And the reasons explained by the president Fabio Rossi, in a hearing in the Region at the Control and Evaluation Committee, chaired by the councilor Roberto Morroni. Rossi reiterated the reasons contained in the warning to the Region sent at the time by Confagricoltura. According to the farmers' union, in fact, the legislation in this regard and, in particular, the Umbrian regional law n.17 / 2009 was disregarded in several points.
"In the first place - explained President Rossi during the hearing - the areas of the regional territory were not identified in which the presence of some species, in particular, wild boars, otters, starlings and corvids is to be considered incompatible with the ecosystem. They have not been prepared the plans envisaged for the reduction of harmful species in the entire regional territory, in order to reach their presence compatible with the environmental characteristics, with the management needs of the zootechnical heritage, with the protection of the soil and zoo-agroforestry productions, with the prevention of health risk. Consequently, the reports expected by 31 December of each year for the illustration of the results achieved by the aforementioned plans have not even been presented to the regional council, because in reality there was no upstream plan ”.
According to the association's estimates, between 130 thousand and 150 thousand would be the heads distributed throughout the region, with reference only to wild boars, while 21 thousand are those that are killed annually, of which a thousand in the context of containment actions organized by the ATC and the other 20 thousand during hunting trips during the hunting season. "The imbalance that is generated is evident - argues Rossi - with continuously increasing damage, which, in 2017, amounted to 700 thousand euros, but which are certainly underestimated.
The figure could almost double, if we consider, in addition to damage to crops, those to the processing, marketing and alienation of agricultural products; those caused by wildlife on the banks of ditches, waterways, rivers and lakes and the water regime in general, which are not compensated “. “This increase in damage - concluded Rossi - is the clearest evidence of non-compliance by the Region to the containment obligations provided for by law. Which, on the other hand, does not even correspond to adequate compensation for farmers, with the risk that they will sooner or later abandon the most marginal areas, with serious consequences from the point of view hydrogeological and environmental. We therefore hope for a rigorous application of the law that meets the needs of all the actors involved ".