There is a striking fact concerning the presence of the wolf in Trentino. It concerns the Val di Fassa. And the mouflon in particular. The wolf returned to recolonize the valley between 2016 and 2017. At that time, the first herd of three specimens was formed. Since 2021, a second herd (formed in the Latermar group) has established itself with a maximum number of seven individuals. Predations have increased, of course. And here is the sobering number, relative to the population of mouflons: those estimated in 720 were 2018, in 2021 they were more than halved, 349, and in 2022 they fell to 167: a fall of 77%.
They are data of the Faunal Service of the Province reported in first study in Italy that analyzed the degree of attendance of artificial foraging sites for ungulates by the wolf. The study, whose first report was recently published, was carried out in the field between mid-January and mid-March 2022 and focused on the Val di Fassa. It is important for several reasons. Two, above all. First: it is the result of the collaboration, not taken for granted, not automatic, between Muse, the Science Museum, and the Trentino Hunters Association (Act). Second: it provides some initial indications, which in the future may translate into management choices also for the purpose of a better coexistence with the large carnivore.
For the Muse, the researchers Giulia Bombieri (who coordinated, for Trentino, the national wolf monitoring campaign), Marco Salvatori and Luca Roner; for the Act, Marco Mura and Enrico Ferraro. Luca Fedrizzi, Gianluca Groff and Fabio Zeni of the Fassa Forestry Station, Michele Chiocchetti, Renzo Pellegrin and Daniele Vadagnini of the associated Forestry Management Rosengarten di Sen Jean, Marco Trentin and Mariano Valentini, gamekeeper, were also involved in collecting data in the valley. Act of the district of Fiemme and Fassa. And, as a support and critical review of the study, there was the contribution of Alessandro Brugnoli, technical director of Act that he studied the presence of the mouflon in the valley starting from the first entry, in 1971 (The Adige).