Councilor Roberto Moroni announced them to overcome a period of inactivity that has caused damage to agricultural activities and public safety over time.
The Umbria Regional Council has approved a proposal from the Councillor for Agricultural Policies and Hunting, which aims to remedy the current situation.
In his report, the Councilor presented some data confirming a situation that has become decidedly difficult. In the 2018/19 hunting season, significantly fewer animals were captured than the planned culls, specifically:
ATC Perugia 1 kills – 6.657 compared to the 11.315 expected
ATC Perugia 2 kills – 4.797 compared to the 6.200 expected
ATC Ternano-Orvietano 3 abatements – approximately 5.000 compared to the 7.650 expected
In other words, at least 8.500 heads of cattle remain uncultivated throughout the Umbria region.
Added to these figures are the damages reimbursed, which in 2018 in the three ATCs of the Region amounted to well over half a million euros.
The regional administration has consulted with all stakeholders—hunters, environmentalists, ATCs, and farmers—and, based on this discussion, has defined specific measures:
- The response time following the discovery of damage is reduced from 48 to 4 hours after notifying the ATC and the owner or manager of the agricultural land can intervene directly, obviously if in possession of a hunting license.
- For night-time operations, only one game warden will be required.
- Another corrective measure concerns who will be able to carry out checks with firearms. Previously, checks had to be carried out by registered local wild boar hunting teams, while with the current measure, the ATC will be able to organize the hunts with duly trained and authorized hunters.
In a letter, the Councilor also raised awareness among the ATCs of the need to intensify monitoring and containment efforts and stated that he is working with the regional offices to redefine what he called "organic management" of the wild boar species.
Please note that at the first meeting of the Wildlife and Hunting Council on February 5th, the opening of the 2020/2021 hunting season for wild boar was postponed to November 1st, with the season ending on January 31st. This will align the calendar with that of neighboring regions, contributing to better control of wild boar population density in the region.
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