Adult boars and their piglets have been sauntering through the Italian capital of Rome, and in some cases, the animals have wreaked havoc on residents, Reuters reported Thursday.
The animals have reportedly flocked to the city in the past few years, attracted by the smell of rotting trash from overflowing waste disposal bins, according to Reuters. Rome resident Rosa Carletti told the outlet, “I am scared … one time I saw them as I was going to throw the rubbish away. They came after me.”(RELATED: Herd Of Elk Running Along Beach Captured In Wild Video)
While some videos show the boars casually trotting through the streets of Rome, numerous incidents have grown violent, Reuters reported. In May, six boars pestered a woman in a parking lot, causing her to abandon her shopping bags and flee the scene, according to Reuters. In October 2020, police shot and killed a sow and her six piglets on a playground near the Vatican, the outlet reported.
The video that everyone is talking about in #Rome this week: a dozen wild boar walking calmly through traffic on Via Trionfale. #cinghiali pic.twitter.com/ZrLfK49lOZ
— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) September 22, 2021
“Even walking to school … has become dangerous here,” said Nunzia Cammino, a resident of northern Rome, told Reuters.
The boar invasion has become a point of contention in campaigns for the upcoming mayoral election, with Mayor Virginia Raggi, who is running for re-election, placing blame on her political opponents. Raggi filed a legal suit earlier in September alleging that the Lazio region, led by the Democratic Party, failed to keep the boar population at bay, Reuters reported.
However, the region has denied her claims and said the animals must be regulated by municipal councils, Reuters reported.
Roberto Gualtieri, one of Raggi’s main opponents in the mayoral race, mocked Raggi’s attempt to sue Lazio and accused the administration of mismanagement, according to Reuters.
“Instead of being mayor, Raggi has basically been a zoologist,” conservative politician Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday while attending a mayoral campaign, according to Reuters.