To respond to their disturbing proliferation, the government has authorized the hunt for ungulates in urban areas, as well as the consumption of their meat. “A shameful page for environmental protection,” denounced wwf.
by Allan Kaval (Rome, correspondent)
In the midst of the debates that have extended in pain around the development of the Italian budget for 2023, a measure integrated into the finance law is detached. Adopted at the last minute in budgetary committee, an amendment plans to authorize the Italians to chase the wild boar in the streets of their cities. And eat the slaughtered animals. The outskirts of large Italian agglomerations, more and more frequented by lost ungulates, will therefore no longer serve as a sanctuary for these animals which have multiplied dangerously throughout the country for several years, causing damage that the authorities have struggled to contain.
carried by the Coldiretti, the very powerful Italian agricultural lobby, and wanted by the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, to respond to a crisis deemed urgent, the expansion of hunting areas was criticized by the opposition . Stefano Vaccari, a parliamentarian of the Democratic Party (center left), mocked the birth of a “Astérix and Obelix right” which would have found in the excessive hunting his “magic potion” against what is now agreed Call in Italy “the invasion of wild boars”.
Because if the method chosen by the majority divides, the observation of the danger represented by the proliferation of these animals in the country, including in urban areas, is unanimously shared. In the absence of sufficient means devoted to the precise study of the phenomenon in Italy, the reliable figures are lacking. However, specialists believe that the number of wild boars in the country has tripled in thirty years, Italy now counting 2.3 million, an individual for 36 inhabitants.
Now, if slaughter has doubled since the 2000s to reach the figure of 30,000 for the 2021-2022 season, the acceleration of boar hunting is not enough to limit the growing grip of this species, y included in urban areas. This phenomenon which is not limited to Italy, but is observed elsewhere in Europe as in North America and Asia, is the product of a bundle of factors of human origin.
Abundance of edible waste
The abandonment of rural areas, massive after the Second World War in Italy, resulted in a decline in hunting, while the expansion of cities brought the urban concentrations of wild boar housing closer. The densely populated areas are also particularly attractive for these omnivorous ungulates, which find an abundance of edible waste. Urban food sources are not only more easily accessible than those that wild boars could find in their natural environments, but also more calorie.
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