By: Emily Wang
Wild boars roaming Italy have been causing destruction in Italy for years, and officials are beginning to think that the boars need to be killed.
Wild boars are smarter than many people think. According to various studies, wild boars have been found to be smarter than dogs and even 3-year-old children together. “The wild boar is not unlike us: smart, social, lives in groups, super adaptable, omnivorous: It’s an animal for all seasons, and habitats,” says Luigi Boitani, a zoologist at Sapienza University. They will eat almost anything and can survive in a wide range of temperatures.
The boars have been known to disrupt traffic, destroy crops, and intrude in Italian cities. The pig industry, which provides over 100,000 jobs, is put into risk by the wild boars, which carry African swine fever. The disease does not affect humans or pets, but it is deadly to farm-raised pigs. The boars can also carry African swine fever, which is harmless to humans and our pets, but can be dangerous to pigs raised for profit, an industry that provides over 100,000 jobs. Countries such as China and Japan have already banned importing pork from Italy out of fear of spreading the African swine fever.
Wild boars reproduce at a surprisingly quick rate. Their numbers have grown so large that even their predators, such as wolves and tigers, cannot control them. Therefore, the Italian government set up a task force in March in attempts to reduce the number of boars in the country by 50%. The plan is to stop the virus from spreading in a “red zone” in the middle of Rome that is blocked off with special nets and gates. In addition, some trash cans have been designed to keep the boars from digging in them. And over a dozen traps have been set outside of Rome’s Great Ring Junction.
No vaccine that can cure African swine fever has been found. Because the virus can survive on surfaces and in soil, park visitors are often asked to sanitize their shoes once they exit the place.
Farmers in the area have been concerned about the boars spreading diseases through their farms. If the disease manages to infect farm-raised pigs, they will have to be culled as well. In one case, two infected pigs found in a small farm had over 1,200 pigs culled due to safety precautions.
But many animal rights groups oppose the new plan.
“Killing them should only be a last resort,” says Roberto Vecchio, the leader of a local anti-hunting league. Vecchio believes that the boars should be sterilized and set free, which is a much more quick and cleaner way to solve the problem.
As the boars continue to cause problems in the cities, officials are still finding ways to control them. However, some neighborhoods have adopted the boars and have even given them nicknames.
Links: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/17/wild-boars-rome-italy-african-swine-fever-cull/