Coaarp signature collection takes hold: already started in Nomaglio, Settimo Vittone, Andrate, 15 other mayors on the list
IVREA. It all started last spring between Chieri and Turin, as a confrontation between farmers via Whatsapp after yet another destruction of arable land by wild boars: the chat, initially shared by a few young farmers specialized in forestry and agronomy, with the passing of months ended up compacting farmers, citizens, environmentalists, animal rights activists, mayors, the association of road victims. The transversal movement of opinion – spokesman for a new way of thinking about the resolution of the wild boar emergency – soon gave rise to the Committee of friends of the Piedmontese rural environments (Coaarp) and to a contextual collection of signatures with hundreds of adhesions in a vast area of Asti , Turin, Cuneo and Alessandrino. Petition that is now also taking hold in Canavese. Settimo Vittone, Andrate, Nomaglio, areas of the Canavese where not only agriculture but also the forest ecosystem is in danger of being compromised by a population of wild boars now out of control, are the first municipalities to have joined. Next week the Coaarp will meet fifteen other Canavese mayors interested in doing the same. Anyone, even citizens, can still sign the petitions already started in the area that Coaarp will send to the Region by submitting its proposals for action. Which basically revolve around two basic considerations. First: the now acclaimed wild boar calamity does not only concern agriculture and therefore requires a systemic approach. Two: a modus operandi that places the hunting world at the center of the management and containment of this species must be unhinged – says Coaarp.
“The massive presence of ungulates – explain from Coaarp – is doing great damage to ecosystems: destroying meadows and undergrowth causes imbalances to small fauna and birdlife nesting on the ground with a serious blow to biodiversity”. The repercussions on road safety are also essential “because there are now many accidents caused by the crossing of wild boars, even in main arteries such as motorways”. The proliferation of wild boars always poses health risks. From this point of view, Coaarp reminds us that the proximity to the Italian borders of a pathology known as African swine fever should impose greater severity in the controls on this which is a target species. In the same petition, the Committee calls for a series of lines of action: from the professional management of the containment by the public bodies responsible for it to the use of public financial resources that must aim to solve the problem, without limiting itself to the mere compensation of damages (however insufficient to support the farmers’ lost revenues). “The management of the ungulate population cannot be fully delegated to those who created the problem – reads the text – as the species of wild boar now present in our territory was introduced for hunting purposes, therefore for recreational activities.creative. Those who hunt for sport usually have no interest in solving the problem ». This is why “we will ask that the public body in charge is directly involved in the management of the species and its eventual containment”. There is also an important chapter on the issue of compensation for damage which concerns greater precision in calculating the size of the phenomenon. Today farmers, after many years, are compensated for the costs of just sowing and working the land, while they ask that the real costs of crop production be taken into account, including those that companies face to buy the equipment that acts as a deterrent to entry of wild boars into the cultivated fields. Among other requests, that of discouraging a boar meat supply chain which, according to Coaarp, would only legitimize the increase in the population of wild ungulates for economic purposes.