The "Deer project", the conservation and management plan for deer in the Trentino sector of Stelvio National Park and in the wildlife district of Val di Sole which actually opens up the possibility of shooting inside the protected area. Stopped in 2008, when the then management committee of the Park had given it a first endorsement with the votes against by Dario Zuccarelli (Italia Nostra), Francesco Borzaga (Wwf Trentino) and the then mayor of Rabbi Franca Penasa, the plan stems from the need to mitigate the ecological imbalances caused to ecosystems by the high density of deer and limit the negative impacts exerted on economic activities as well as allowing for its long-term conservation and well-being.
The plan was illustrated during the session of last December 6 of the provincial coordination and direction committee which was thus informed of the state of monitoring of deer populations (there is a density of 29 animals per square kilometer) and on the control program which should foresee, in the first two years of implementation of the program, a removal of about 180 animals and in the following three years of about 500, as is already the case in the Lombard and South Tyrolean sectors. “We have been talking about it for some time and the plan is being worked out.
The consistency of the deer on the territory is high and represents a problem. We are therefore carrying out a whole series of activities from a technical point of view in order to implement the intervention "confirms the Vice President of the Province Mario Tonina who also adds that contacts have already been made with theAssociation of Trentino Hunters. The selective collection, in fact, will be entrusted to hunters specially trained through the participation in qualification courses: in these days, the hunters of the Val di Sole district have received the communication of the organization of these routes. The project is expected to start in October 2022, as explained by the representative of the protectionist associations in the provincial coordination and direction committee of the park Aaron Iemma who obviously expresses opposition to the project.
«We don't see all this rush to leave - he says - and it is absurd that we can shoot in a National Park. The problem can also be solved with other techniques. Eg, the wolf factor represents a new and important variable for the rebalancing of the consistency and use of spaces. Furthermore, selective sampling is entrusted to hunters with an evident conflict of interest and so far, although we are already close to its implementation, discussion tables have not yet been activated. Without detracting from the scientific managers of the project, who show solid biological competence, the plan does not start from ecological needs. There are pressures coming from the hunting sector ». In reality, it does not seem that the whole "hunting sector" wants to start the project. In fact, from the Val di Rabbi various voices of hunters arise who are rather perplexed, if not opposed to the hypothesis of being able to shoot inside the Park.
The municipal councilor is the spokesperson for this part of hunters, which is also joined by the opposition of breeders, hut managers and tour operators, forestry professionals, administrators. Alan Girardi. In particular, it is noted that the project "is no longer necessary given that the deer population in the park has significantly decreased following several rather abundant snowfalls which have reduced the number both due to death and because many animals have moved to other areas. outside the park in search of food and given the increasingly important presence of the wolf ». The fear is also that, giving green light to hunting in the park, the deer leaves the protected area, creating a problem for the renewal of populations living outside the park as well as for tourism which has grown a lot in the Val di Rabbi in recent years. «It is a pity that on this very important issue there has so far been no confrontation with the local population. There is a risk that it will be dropped from above "concludes Girardi (The Adige).
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