Wild boar crisis impacts Alta Murgia and Gargano farms

Coldiretti Puglia has issued an urgent call for action regarding the wild boar overpopulation that is devastating crops in the Alta Murgia and Gargano national park regions. The agricultural organization reports that wild boars continue to enter fields and pressure farming businesses, despite years of requests for effective intervention.

While the Puglia Region has spent 2.4 million euros in a single year to compensate for damages caused by wildlife, including road accidents, management plans for the national parks remain stalled by administrative processes. In Alta Murgia, the 2026-2030 management plan was approved in late July but is still awaiting feedback from ISPRA. Meanwhile, the management plan for the Gargano National Park has not yet been drafted.

Pietro Piccioni, director of Coldiretti Puglia, criticized the slow pace of the public response, stating that the emergency persists in the fields while bureaucracy continues in offices. The organization is demanding that management tools in the national parks become fully operational with clear responsibilities and measurable results.