Twenty wild boars who had made their home in a Genoa city park were shot dead Tuesday to the dismay of animal rights activists and some local residents.
Provincial authorities sent hunters and dogs in to a wooded area in the port city's Parco delle Mura after ruling that the park's 50-strong wild boar population was a public menace.
Provincial assessor Piero Fossati said the animals had begun wandering out to nearby streets to plunder rubbish bins and were also known to approach members of the public because they were used to residents flouting a council ban to bring them food.
''Recently the boars have provoked three traffic accidents and two people have ended up in hospital,'' said provincial councillor Piero Fossati, who was responsible for overseeing the hunt.
''That's not even taking into account the aggressiveness of the females once they've given birth, which should happen in the first two weeks of March. Imagine sixty kilos of boar behind two razor-sharp tusks,'' he said.
Fossati said the park would now be fenced off to prevent the boar from wandering, and appealed to Genoa residents to stop feeding them.
Animal activists tried to persuade hunters not to enter the wood, but their claims that activists already hidden among the trees could be hit by stray bullets were brushed aside.
The 20 boars killed will be sent to charitable organisations to feed the poor, according to the province.
