Hard times for the deer living in the perimeter of the Stelvio Park, there are too many and it will be necessary to shoot them down with a withdrawal plan that for the first time also involves the Trentino side of the reserve. The project in Val di Sole had stopped since 2008, when Italia Nostra, the WWF and even some mayors got in the way, but now the number of ungulates seems to have proliferated excessively even in these parts, with a concentration that, according to experts, exceeds the 29 units per square kilometer.
Hence the need to "take", or to proceed with the slaughter, of at least 180 animals between now and the next two years and another 500 in the next three. Nothing that has not been seen on the Lombardy side of the Park where thehe latest plan of "withdrawals" dated 2019 is still in force. The plan foresees to reduce the density of deer within the limit of 9 specimens per hundred hectares, in the forest stations of Valfurva and Sondalo the limit has been set at 1.200 deer net of chicks, so as to preserve an overall population of 1.800 heads, equal to an average presence of 6/7 deer per square kilometer. The killing takes place starting from October with the collaboration of external personnel, through the use of precision firearms to identify and distinguish each specimen in sex and age classes.
In the three-year period from 2014 to 2016 they were demolished 245 deer a year, in the last five years a total of 170 more. According to the latest censuses in the territory of the park there is a population of 10 thousand specimens, with negative effects on the undergrowth, the larch and fir forests which prevent the renewal by feeding on the newly sprouted trees, not to mention the competition to the chamois or the capercaillie and the black grouse which have practically disappeared (The day).