The presence of wild boars in Rome, a problem that nobody manages to solve

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  • Citizens have come to consider “a night curfew” to avoid animals

The presence of entire herds of wild boar in the streets of Rome it has become an emergency that no mayor can solve and that increasingly worries its citizens, who have come to consider “a nightly curfew” to avoid the animals, given the inefficiency shown by the authorities.

This serious problem, whose beginnings go back less than a decade, gained prominence during the pandemic, when with the absence of people on the streets of the capital increased the number of wild boars to reach several hundred -officially there is no exact figure- that can currently be seen in various areas of the city.

“Rome is one of the urban centers that in the last seven or eight years has registered the most significant increase to become the most critical city at the national level, along with Genoa and Trieste (north) & rdquor ;, Andrea Monaco explained to Efe, of the state Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA).

Spotting a pair of wild boars has become a daily routine for the Romans, as evidenced by the multitude of videos circulating on social networks of these wild animals walking between cars and passers-by, without being exposed to hunting or other predators and with food available in the overflowing garbage containers.

grave danger

According to Dr. Monaco, although these mammals may seem calmhis presence in the city poses a serious danger because they can cause traffic accidents and attack people and pets.

In fact, several residents of the Aurelio neighborhood, in the north of Rome and adjoining the Vatican, have even declared a “night curfew” after the attack suffered by a neighbor by a female who was with her little ones and that, despite not having serious consequences, has caused alarm, local media report.

One of the main reasons for the massive entry of wild boars in Rome is the peculiarity of the city, whose 1,285 square kilometers are completely surrounded by large agricultural areas and green spaces, in many cases with little maintenance.

These spaces encourage the arrival of animals, mainly attracted by the availability of food that they find in the containers, full of garbage due to the chronic mismanagement of waste.

containers

“It is essential that there is no food for the species, containers must be clean and there must be no waste outside. Nor should anthropogenic food be left available, such as that put to pets,” explained Monaco, who harshly criticized those who feed the wild boars because they make the situation worse and are breaking municipal law.

In the first six months of management of the new Roman mayor, Robert Gualtieri, It has not been possible to improve the situation left by her predecessor, Virgina Raggi, widely criticized for her poor waste management, although the councilor has announced his intention to build an incinerator before 2025 to deal with the waste problem.

According to Monaco, the new municipal board has shown a “a clearer will to try to solve the problem from the point of view from a technical point of view with greater operability”.

A few days ago, the local government approved the first project to identify the entry points for wild boar, such as the Insugherta park or the Apia Antica park, with the aim of fencing them off and focus garbage collection efforts there.

nonviolent solutions

But the animal protection associations are very skeptical about the lack of preventive measures and they criticize that the security forces kill the wild boars – as happened on April 22 with a specimen that was in the neighborhood where the mayor lives – because “they are not aggressive”, but rather defend themselves when they feel threatened.

“The present administration has not programmed any kind of strategy other than the previous government,” sources from the Italian Animalists association, organizers of the largest mobilizations on this issue, told Efe.

To protect wild boars they propose solutions “non-violent” such as sterilizing them to prevent the population from growing or capturing them and returning them to the field.

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However, ISPRA questions these solutions because “they are impracticable from a technical point of view and almost always unsustainable from a practical and economic point of view & rdquor ;, according to Monaco.

Despite their differences, both parties agree that the authorities must act urgently and imminently to solve an emergency that goes through solving the chronic problem of waste in the city.



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