More than 30 specimens counted in a single day. It is one of the results of the 2021 roe deer census concluded in November in a high sample area naturalistic value within the Lombard Park of the Ticino Valley. The monitoring was coordinated, as usual, by Professor Alberto Meriggi of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of Pavia with the collaboration of the doctor. Olivia Dondine of the homologous department of the University of Milan-Bicocca. This year the census saw the joint participation of a large group of students and young researchers from the two universities together with the volunteers of the Lombard Park of Ticino (Volunteer ecological guards and forest firefighters, biodiversity and civil service volunteers) as well as the personnel of the Park's fauna sector and the reference park ranger for the area.
Roe deer is one of the deer species that benefits most from improvements if protected, in the presence of well-preserved forest areas and a reduction in hunting pressure. The roe deer population present in the woods of the Ticino Valley is the result of an initial nucleus reintroduced by the Park in the mid-90s. The census has been repeated for 7 years now in the woods of the Salvaraja farm area south of the “La Fagiana” nature reserve. Among English oaks, hornbeams, elms, alders and hazelnuts, the specimens counted in recent days during a batting census find refuge, repeated in two sessions held one week apart on a series of predefined sample areas.
In each sector, fixed observers, arranged along three sides of the perimeter of the stop sector, they are involved in the observation and counting of animals, moved by the progressive advancement of a mobile front of beaters, arranged on the fourth side of the sector. In total, 50 people so organized took part in the census. The most suitable period for carrying out this type of census is the April, but considering the period of suspension of activity caused by the pandemic, the one conducted in recent days can be considered a sort of special session of the census for the year 2021.
This year's censuses allowed, as mentioned, to count more than 30 specimens in the area in one day, estimating a density of individuals equal to 31,2 per square kilometer: this is a sign, also considering the time of year, of a population that remains large, vital and stable within the protected area, as it is well integrated in a natural context in the middle of the Po Valley. "This event - commented the managing director of the Ticino Park, Francesca Lara Monno - represented not only an important moment for the acquisition of scientific data, but also a valuable signal of collaboration between the research world of the University of Pavia and the University of Milano-Bicocca and the staff and volunteers of the Ticino Park "(Malpensa 24).