REPORTAGE
Because of the drought, these predators find it harder to find food. These are wild boars. They are tens of thousands in France to venture to the gates of big cities to search garbage cans. But above all, they ravage on their way the fields and vegetable crops.
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In the south of France, farmers are sounding the alarm. "They made me a massacre: they come back and they come to serve," laments Rene market gardener in Martigues. "It's really Verdun in cabbages!" Every day the farmer notices the damage. "We have crops that are for months in production, once ready: the boars eat them!" if he annoys. "It amounts to a few thousand euros of losses."
"We have the right to do anything"
Some farmers are exhausted. Individual harvesting and trapping are prohibited and fences do not withstand hordes of wild boar, species that can weigh up to 100 kilos. "We need help, because if we have the right to do anything, we have our eyes to cry," says Jean-Marc, also market gardener. "The lieutenants of Louveterie should intervene more often, organize battues to take a lot more."
The lieutenants of Louveterie, appointed by the prefect, are responsible for the regulation of pests and their slaughter in case of damage. Time is running out for this market gardener, who has already lost nearly 20% of his crop.