Toad Invasion Prompts Urgent Highway Solutions in Torbole
Anti-toad solutions will arrive, but they will only be ready for the next migration. This was announced yesterday at Passo San Giovanni, during a meeting initiated by Roberto Vivaldi which was attended by Iva Berasi, the assessor, Giuseppe Parolari, the mayor of Torbole, technicians, and representatives of law enforcement.
Interventions and preliminary insights
Berasi, in fact, previewed that work will begin already in September to build underpasses allowing amphibian armies to cross the highway without being “stretched” by cars or “marching” over Vivaldi’s hotel. “The situation has always been monitored,” she said shortly after descending from the Province’s Lancia, “but it’s useless to say that no one would have ever expected such a phenomenon.”
A casual “summit” was preceded by a quick inspection of the bike path, still closed to traffic (although cyclists ignore the bans) due to the presence of small amphibians. “No one,” said Councilor Berasi, amusedly observing the animals (in much smaller numbers than previous days), “could have foreseen that something like this would happen.”
Reactions and potential solutions
Definitely,” she added, increasing Vivaldi’s frustration who has been experiencing a true nightmare for a couple of weeks, “the severity of the situation has been exaggerated and the invasion of toads,” she said smiling at the hotel owner, “would have occurred even if the lake hadn’t been transferred to the Province of Trento, becoming a biotope.”
“Here,” replied the hotel owner, openly, “we have suffered a real invasion, and the experts I spoke to told me that all this chaos could have been foreseen and, in some ways, avoided or limited. Perhaps by implementing tried and tested solutions used at Lake Ampola or Fivé.”
Discussion and critical issues surrounding the problem
The discussion then continued at one of the external tables outside the hotel. Both the mayor of Torbole (“They are toads,” he said, “not venomous snakes”) and Berasi dismissed the accusation of having underestimated the problem, while Tiziano Giuliani, commander of the Torbole fire brigade, who only yesterday had accused politicians and officials of the Province of being missing in action, was visibly shaking his head.
“In Trento,” reiterated Berasi, “there is a group of people who solely deal with Lake Loppio, and they had already prepared a project to facilitate the toads’ exodus. Lake Loppio has come back to life and, for the first time in decades, it’s no longer just puddles but plenty of water, which has helped the eggs hatch.”
What happened, obviously, urges us to accelerate the construction of the underpasses, which will be completed right after summer. Besides human intervention, patience is needed, and it may take a few years for the current natural imbalance to resolve itself. I believe it’s unnecessary to explain that only time can re-establish the ecological chain in the biotope with the arrival of a series of predator animals.”
