The Undersecretary for Health: “We need a plan, the virus can spread and risks the pig sector”. Oipa: in Rome the problem is waste
“I think we are facing an emergency and we must ask ourselves the problem of reducing the population of wild boars, I believe that this emergency can also serve to solve another problem, that is, that wild boars are now present in our neighborhoods and in our cities. I respect everyone’s sensitivity, but I believe that in the face of an emergency of this type we need a plan and we must give ourselves priorities, we must reduce the wild boar population to prevent the virus from spreading ». This was reiterated by Andrea Costa, Undersecretary for Health, delegated by Minister Speranza to the swine fever emergency, to Radio24 adding that “this week we will proceed to lay fences to contain the virus”.
“We are monitoring and evaluating the situation – he adds – there is concern, what is most at risk is the pig sector, we must do everything possible to ensure that the virus is contained and there is no transmission to pigs, otherwise it is a problem for the supply chain. It must also be said clearly that the virus is not transmissible from animal to man ».
Oipa: in Rome the problem is waste, not wild boars
«The citizens of Rome do not want the problem of the raids of some wild boar in the inhabited center caused by the waste emergency, and only by that, to be solved with blood. Now another pretext to invoke blood is some small case of swine fever, not transmissible to man ». So yesterday in a note from the International Organization for Animal Protection (Oipa), according to which «African swine fever (PSA) cannot be fought by sending hunters to kill wild boars as reported by Undersecretary of Health Andrea Costa. On the contrary, as an opinion asked of experts by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) attests, “hunting is not an effective tool to reduce the size of the wild boar population in Europe”. What’s more: hunters, with their evisceration practices, can spread the Psa virus, harmless to humans, and other pathogens that the prey could carry in an uncontrolled manner “.
“The main cause of the increase in the presence of wild boars in Rome is the age-old waste emergency, which has become very serious in recent years – underlines Rita Corboli, delegate of Oipa in Rome – The wild boars are always the same, but in recent years waste and open landfills have increased and therefore the availability of food in the vicinity of the green areas where they live. Rome is the greenest city in Europe rich in wildlife, which should be considered a resource to be managed with respect for life and not an enemy to fight “. Oipa therefore hopes “that the question will be tackled in a rational, scientific way. A serious surveillance and prevention plan can be implemented not by arming the hunters, even by deregulating their activity, but by monitoring the health of dead animals in the national territory “. “Making Rome a Far West to kill wild boars does not solve the problem, quite the contrary: scientific studies affirm that the killing is followed by a multiplication of litters – continues Corboli – In Rome the problem is waste, not wild boars”.
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