1,500 roe deer pups were saved from mowers in South Tyrol

It was possible thanks to the intervention of over 730 people who used drones and did more than 7,000 hours of volunteer work.

Good news comes fromSouth Tyrol, where in 2024 they were rescued approximately 1,500 young roe deer from mechanical mowers used in haymaking.It was thanks to more 700 volunteers who engaged more than 7,400 hours of their time to monitor areas at risk and ensure that small animals they were safe during hay harvesting operations.To do this they used gods equipped drones of thermal imaging cameras that allowed volunteers to locate quickly the roe deer hidden in the tall grass, providing them the possibility of intervening before the young roe deer could find themselves in dangerous situations.Thus the volunteers managed to avoid many involuntary killings of wildlife.

The fundamental use of drones:more than 4,600 hours in flight

This is a great success for the group of volunteers who worked using different techniques to save the young roe deer.The methods used, as also reported by the association Hunters South Tyrol, there are three: the patrol on foot of the fields, the use of deterrents, or i drones.The first method is the cheapest but also the least effective given the material difficulty in finding all the roe deer hidden in the fields.The use of bollards, however, is a very widespread technique:the volunteers try to ward off the roe deer using tools such as speakers and amplifiers that emit ultrasounds that are annoying for the animal.This method has also been used for some time for wild animals such as wild boars and hares but has not always proved effective for prevent accidents. For these reasons the tool used by volunteers in 2024 is the drone.Although expensive, in fact, this means has made it possible to track down many more roe deer than in previous years.It is estimated that in total the drones used flew for more than that 4,600 hours scouting the fields before the start of the collection operations.A move that allowed the rescue of 1,580 roe deer of which 237 marked with earphones on the occasion.

The favorable weather of 2024

A further aspect that proved decisive was the rains.Compared to last year, in the first part of the year it rained much more in Trentino-Alto Adige compared to normal. An anomalous situation that allowed the fields to remain soaked even close to the summer season.In this way haymaking, the technique of harvesting fodder plants, was delayed and allowed many roe deer to escape the mower blades. Roe deer hide their young in the hay to protect them from predators but it is a move that often proves lethal for the little ones who become victims of haymaking operations.The intervention of the volunteers was a great act of humanity which highlighted the ability of the South Tyrolean community to find solutions to complex problems to the protection of animal welfare.