It was held yesterday morning in Council Chamber of the Province of Ferrara, located inside the Estense Castle, the press conference for the presentation of Life Perdix Project, which aims at the recovery and conservation of the Italian Gray Partridge (Perdix perdix italica), the first Life project that involves hunters in our country. With Italian Federation of Hunting participate in Life Ispra; Forestry Carabinieri; the Fédération Nationale des Chasseur; Legambiente; Po Delta Park Emilia Romagna; and Enci. The area identified for the reintroduction of Perdix p. italica is the SPA Valle del Mezzano, near the Comacchio Valleys, in the Ferrara area.
The site, with an area of approx 18.000 hectares, partly falls within the Po Delta Park, and is a valley area reclaimed at the end of the 60s, currently characterized by extensive arable land crossed by a dense network of canals, with ditches and windbreak trees. At the edge of the territory there are numerous residual wetlands, with a particularly important presence of flora and fauna. At the presentation, the following intervened for the Life Partners: Gian Luca Dall'Olio and the National Presidency Councilor Stefano Merighi for Federcaccia; Nino. Morabito for Legambiente; the president of ENCI Dino Muto and Marco Fabbri, President of the Po Delta Park.
During the conference, attended by numerous stakeholders e a large group of journalists, the aims of the initiative and the considerable opportunities that are expected for the recovery of the Italian gray partridge (saved in extremis from complete extinction at a global level), its reintroduction in the SPA Valle del Mezzano and for the relaunch of this splendid territory also for dog breeding and tourism.
Many questions from those present were aimed at obtaining clarifications on the control measures of opportunistic predators and coypu, given the considerable presence in the reintroduction site and by the speakers it was clarified that they will be implemented a series of preventive measures and it will be possible to modulate the existing control of some opportunistic predators such as the fox and the corvids. The control of the nutria should also be intensified to avoid possible predation of the nests placed on the edge of the drainage canals.