Scardovi Lake. Eko Club's appeal: "We need more civility"

"The catfish? The problem here is the vandals who damage and destroy, and the arrogant ones, those who unleash the dogs who then slaughter the ducks and geese ." Aldo Brusa, president of the Castellana section of Eko Club who volunteers to take care of the Scardovi pond , shows that he has no desire to give up. The pond, after all, is his second home. Or perhaps his first, given that "I've been here since '92, for more than thirty years," he says while he drives us with his Multipla along the 740 meters of path along the entire perimeter of the pond, stopping at every bin.

"See this? One time it was burned, while the other one, that one over there, they detached and threw it into the lake." The same fate that some benches and even the fence had: "There are those who saw the perpetrators," Brusa says. "They attacked in three or four, shaking it until they lifted it off the ground and then pushed it into the pond."

The latest raid, however, targeted the boards of a raised wooden table, while under the heading 'rude and where to find them' are the members of the group that "sowed waste everywhere after the picnic". The invasion of catfish is told by the videos posted on Facebook? A fairy tale, smiles at us on Brusa.

"The reality is that there are those who in the past, like today, occasionally bring them here, and so we, as happened no later than a few weeks ago, remove them and take them away - he observes -. Of course, there have also been specimens of 60-70 kilos, now they are no longer that size, but it is clear that it is an additional job that needs to be done, that of thinning out their presence. However, that they destroy the ecosystem is nonsense".

"Someone is saying that ducks no longer go into the water for fear of being eaten: nonsense, I repeat - Brusa continues in the analysis -. Do you know what the danger is for ducks and geese ? Those who take their dog to the pond, where it is forbidden, and not satisfied, unleash them: so over the years we have found ducks, swans and geese torn to pieces. They are probably the same ones who when you stop them and tell them 'you can't bring your dog here', insult you as happened last week".

And then bicycles, even though they are prohibited, whizzing along the driveway, and bags of dog waste filling the bins "which we then obviously have to take away". There are seven volunteers today and they work together with Aldo, but several, he regrets, "have raised the white flag, tired of the continuous episodes of incivility and arrogance".

Brusa, however, although discouraged, does not give up. He says that "more control is needed, and in this we need concrete help from the Municipality", and that "a truckload of gravel to spread on the avenue would be necessary, as well as completing the fence". And after feeding the geese, Brusa accompanies us to the exit, telling us about the lawnmower that was also recovered from the pond, because there is no limit to stupidity.

Claudio Bolognesi