For over forty years, studies, conferences and reports on the situation of the ibex in Italy and in Europe; in the meantime (60s) phenomena of spontaneous reintegration occurred in Alto Adige, from neighboring Switzerland and Austria; intense restoking and reintroduction operations followed in various parts of the Alps, some with an immediate positive effect (as in Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta and the Julian Alps), others with initial difficulties in settling in ("negative result!" , commented Rolando Bier following the first attempt to enter the Pordenone mountains).
To the "good" situation of the various colonies, which had formed over time, was added the "gift" of a stock of 40 animals to various Italian mountains by Switzerland, grateful for Italy having safeguarded the species even in periods extremely dangerous (just think of the two world wars) and to make amends for the theft/poaching of baby ibex in Val d'Aosta, which gave rise to the current Swiss ibex heritage.
As far as Italy is concerned, the consistency (Source: Tosi-Pedrotti-Ispra) offers a species that is not in danger of extinction; the ibex colonies are numerous and evenly distributed.
The working group (established in 2009 by the Province of Sondrio with the cream of "scientists", coordinated by Tosi and Pedrotti), produced a plan for the conservation, diffusion and management of the ibex in the Italian Alpine range, foreseeing "the possibility of hunting enjoyment, obviously subjecting it to the implementation of very specific essential technical/scientific conditions".
We know the battle is tough. In Alto Adige, the first samples were carried out in 1988, by virtue of the specialty of the autonomous Province (50 animals compared to an estimated number of 700 animals).
Motivation? “In the herds there are mature, old and ultra-old individuals, to the point that it is logical and legitimate to take what would otherwise be lost”. Furthermore, "the possibility of sampling keeps interest in a species alive, guarantees its control and therefore allows it to thrive!" (Stocker, President of ACAA 2001 in “The management of ungulates” UNCZA 2005). All the literature and scientific research consulted so far agree with the possibility of hunting management of the ibex. The opinion of ISPRA (then INFS) since 1991 is also in agreement, written opinion signed by Prof. Mario Spagnesi, which set the sampling period between September XNUMXst and December XNUMXth ("Bramito included!", therefore). The opinion expressed on several occasions by Dr. Marco Giacometti, of the “Wildvet Project – Ziegelried CH, a great expert in the management of the ibex in Switzerland, and of Dr. Paider Ratti, Forestry Inspector of the Canton of Grisons is in agreement: “The populations of ibex, once rooted in the territory, have within them the virtue to multiply: it is the territory that always remains the same, for which hunting management is necessary!”