The day July 29 2019 the field activity for the wild rabbit monitoring (Oryctolagus cuniculus). 12 highly specialized technicians are at work in 7 separate ones Sicilian Hunting Faunal Divisions. The project aims to define and propose, to the competent bodies, a sustainable hunting management model for the species, in line with the general indications provided by theISPRA.
Two phases are foreseen which must in any case be completed by the first ten days of next September. A first monitoring session in which it will be applied the pellet count technique, and a second phase of census with counting of the subjects at night with the help of the lighthouse. The pellet count technique provides a survey on 1032 points distributed over the seven divisions concerned. In these points, with a particular survey technique, and by detecting on the ground the number of rabbit made (pellets), it will be possible to estimate the number of rabbits present in the area.
The project was born from the synergy between different entities including:
The Regional Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Mediterranean Fishing, of the Department of Rural and Territorial Development through Service 3 - Wildlife Management of the Territory with its Territorial Operating Units (Hunting Faunal Divisions),
Il Zoology laboratory applied science of the Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies of the University of Palermo (prof. Mario Lo Valvo),
The "MIRRI" Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Palermo
Il FIDC Regional Council of the Sicily Region
The Study Center of the Italian Federation of Hunting
The volunteer hunters of the many hunting associations in the area
In this phase, the monitoring by means of pellet counts was started, training courses will begin shortly, aimed at enabling the approximately 350 Sicilian hunters, to be actively involved in the census of this important species, both of hunting and conservation interest.