C33 | Wildlife control activities on wild boar and management of captured animals: analysis of regulations with reference to animal welfare in light of the PSA emergency

The emergency situation linked to ASF outbreaks in Italy, in addition to the problems associated with damage to agriculture, road accidents and biodiversity, has led in recent years to measures being taken at national level to reduce populations and increase numerical containment activities, both through hunting and wildlife control operations pursuant to Article 11(4) of LN 394/91 and Art. 19 of LN 157/92, with the implementation of an “Extraordinary Plan for the Management and Containment of Wildlife” approved in 2023. In this context, in addition to selective culling, the use of capture methods with fixed and mobile facilities consisting of cages, fences, corrals and pig brig is becoming increasingly common. The fate of the captured animals is a critical point of management, not only in terms of the effectiveness of this practice, but above all in terms of animal welfare. In this regard, several issues arise, especially in protected areas and urban centres, concerning the use of firearms in the culling of wild boars, the transport of the animals and their destination. Despite European and national regulations, there are various and different interpretations of the rules across the country, depending on the social context. As a result, in some cases, captured wild boars are removed using methods that are questionable in terms of animal welfare and certainly contrary to European regulations on the management of free-roaming wildlife. For example, particularly within certain oases or protected areas, wild boars are removed from cages and/or capture enclosures through tunnels and then transferred to ZAC (dog training areas) where they are shot, in order to allow these animals to be killed in other contexts by hunters. This aspect is in stark contrast even to the Commissioner's Ordinances on PSA. In other cases, however, animals are transferred to CLS for subsequent culling, creating a regulatory conflict with Reg (EC) 853/2004, which clearly states that “wild game” must not arrive alive at these facilities. This aspect is also implicitly reflected in the 2021 Guidelines, which do not contain any indication of how wild game is to be slaughtered at the CLS, as this is neither provided for nor authorised. Furthermore, if we were to refer to Regulation (EC) 1099/2009 “on the protection of animals at the time of killing”, there is no reference to the slaughter of free-living wild animals. If transport is also to be considered, it is entirely inappropriate to seek in Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 an endorsement or explicit exclusion for the transport of wild animals captured for slaughter. In fact, although this regulation certainly applies to all vertebrates, it cannot be invoked for application to free-living wild animals intended for slaughter because this destination is explicitly excluded. The management of wild boars captured in control operations should therefore be focused on the key objective of animal welfare, avoiding the imposition of handling and any unnecessary and easily avoidable stressful situations on free-living wildlife, using standard procedures based on current legislation and established experience.