In order to prevent the further spread of African swine fever by wild boar, the capital region of Lazio has set up a "red zone" north of Rome.

In the 500-hectare area, picnics in parks are prohibited until further notice, and feeding wild animals is also prohibited.

In a wild boar carcass found north of Rome, the virus, which is dangerous for both wild and domestic pigs, was detected for the first time in the central Italian region last week.

The pathogen is harmless to humans, but can be transmitted back to animals.

The affected area is now fenced off.

Fences are also to be erected around garbage containers in the northern residential districts.

Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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Rome has been suffering from an ever worsening plague of wild boar for years.

According to the Italian farmers' association, there are now around 23,000 wild boars in the capital and its immediate surroundings.

Across Italy, the population is estimated at 2.3 million animals.

The regions of Tuscany and Liguria are also fighting the plague in vain.

In the capital, the garbage containers that have been overflowing for years have become magnets for wild boar in search of food.

Since the animals have lost their fear of people, traffic accidents and dangerous encounters are becoming more frequent.

While walking to the garbage container in the late evening hours, an elderly woman in northern Rome was attacked by a brook last week and had to be taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

arguing about the garbage

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza said the authorities were "monitoring the situation with the utmost attention".

The population was asked to report the discovery of further wild boar carcasses.

Plans by the authorities in various parts of the country to regulate the wild boar population by shooting them down have repeatedly met with resistance from environmental and animal rights activists.

The plan by Rome's mayor Roberto Gualtieri to finally have the waste incineration plant built for the capital, which has been planned for decades, is also causing criticism.

To date, the city only processes or disposes of two percent of its waste on its own territory.

The left-wing populist Five Star Movement rejects waste incineration plants as the "ultimate contradiction to the circular economy" and instead focuses on promoting recycling.

However, under Gualtieri's predecessor Virginia Raggi from the Five Stars, it was not possible to increase the proportion of separated and recyclable household waste to more than 50 percent.