Damages caused to crops by Wild boars (S. scrofa meridionalis) in Sardinia (Italy)

Abstract

In Sardinia wild boars (Sus scrofa) are originally present with an endemic subspecies, S. scrofa meridionalis. It is distinguished by its smaller size and by a taller and larger head in comparision with the one of the typical form. In the Island, starting from the sixties, many exemplars of the subspecies Sus scrofa scrofa (central European Wild boar) have been introduced with a hunting purpose. They have spread in a great part of Sardinia and they have cast out the endemic subspecies to a few areas (central Sardinia, Ogliastra, Sulcis, Iglesiente). We should consider the fact that in Sardinia wild boars have always had the chance to interbreed with great facility with domestic pigs, owing to the large diffusion of pig rearing in the wild state. We haven’t any exact and reliable data on the distribution and density of the Wild boar in Sardinia. The only information we get is from the examination of the shootings during the hunting season. The introduction of central European exemplars and the possibility of interbreeding with domestic pigs may have influenced the prolificacy and have favoured in many circumstances the numerical development of the population of wild animals. Wild boars are a omnivorous species, they feed mainly on the fruits of woods (acorns, chestnuts, hazelnuts), roots, tubers, bulbs and larvas of insects, corns, carrot, potato, sugarbeet and vineyards. They often cause damage to crops. Even in Sardinia several cases of damage caused by wild boars in farming area are reported to the Regional Department of the Defence of Environment. This Department is responsible for the evaluation of the damages and the possible refund for farmers. In this poster the data of the damages claimed in a three year period, from 1990 to 1992, are examined. Particular attention is paid to the geographical distribution of the damage and to the kind of crops.