Video emerges of Rome trash workers feeding wild boar.

Rome mayor Virginia Raggi has condemned a video which appears to show employees of the city's refuse collection service AMA feeding wild boar beside street bins.

Describing their actions as "unacceptable behaviour", Raggi has urged AMA to verify whether the people in the video are indeed employees of the municipal company, and if so to take action against them.

In recent weeks Rome's wild boar have been hogging increasing headlines, both in the capital and abroad, with foreign media linking the animal's presence with the city's trash crisis.

Residents of northern suburbs such as Monte Mario and southern areas such as Spinaceto, on the fringes of the Decima Malafede nature reserve, have long complained of problems caused by wild boar, however in recent months the animals are reportedly being sighted on a daily basis.

Residents are reporting that wild boar are rummaging through street bins and walking through parks and private gardens, as well as being an intimidating presence near playgrounds and causing multiple near-miss road accidents for motorists.

Last month, at Ariccia in the Castelli Romani, wild boar attacked and killed a Yorkshire Terrior dog as it attempted to protect its owners and their children from the cinghiali which appeared at the family's front door at midnight.

Local authorities in Rome's XV borough, incorporating northern suburbs such as La Storta and Cesano, are now calling on the city to deal with the "emergency" situation which they claim is out of control.

With an estimated Italian population of one million, the tusked animals can weigh up to 140 kg and are particularly dangerous if disturbed while with their young. 

Cover photo Il Sole 24 Ore. Video La Repubblica.