Mountain animals, UCI:“Road accidents happen because their natural habitat is disrupted”

The president of the Italian Farmers' Union criticizes man's management of the territory:"We have invaded the living space of mountain animals, they are lost and homeless"

ROME - "Mountain animals are now lost and homeless because asphalt and concrete have evicted them from dens and woods.Over the last thirty years, Municipalities and Regions have abandoned the management of mountain territories, entrusting it, in fact, to anthropic intervention which, as we know, always brings about private and non-systemic interests".These are the harsh words of Mario Serpillo, national president of the Italian Farmers' Union, commenting on the data on road accidents in the mountains, specifically in the regions of the national north-east.

“FOOD, TERRITORY AND SHELTER HAVE BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM WILD ANIMALS”

“Who is able to say that 100 bears are too many for Trentino?Too much is a human judgment based on the perception of imagined damage in future projection.In reality, Nature's perfect machine regulates the survival relationship of the species by itself, which reproduces based on the natural resources at its disposal (food, water, shelter, spaces...), in a sustainable balance.We could say that man has systematically preyed especially on ungulates, putting into practice a sort of land grabbing towards wild animals, taking away their camp, territory, shelter, food.In a word, the natural habitat.We are also aware of the damage that some species cause to crops, but this is another topic that we have addressed several times in the appropriate forums, proposing solutions and projects that respect bio-diversity", insisted Serpillo.

THE 'WHITE DEATHS' OF WILD ANIMALS

“It is true that we have witnessed high reproduction rates of wildlife - the note further underlined - but the number of accidents has also undergone a sharp increase in recent years!The phenomenon also distorts the statistics of the regional zooprophylactic institutes (are there really 7 plantigrades found dead in the Autonomous Province of Trento in 2023?) since a bear or a deer killed in a road accident often skips the institutional procedure and, for certain reasons, escapes to the official numbers, configuring the unpleasant phenomenon of 'white deaths' of wild animals, deaths that are kept secret from local communities and veterinary statistics.We don't want to forget the tragic end ofDaniza bear, who died in 2014 because she did not survive a sedative administered to her during her capture."Yet another victim of man himself:a splendid specimen that no longer exists because the healthy bond between man and territory has been dramatically lost, and with it also ideals and views of integrated coexistence.

WE NEED “TRUE MANAGEMENT” OF THE TERRITORY

“The culprits certainly cannot be the animals, which have always lived and reproduced in the woods. We invaded their living space, we went too far, making areas habitable that were not and thus interrupting the balance of the mountain food chain.Man is responsible for everything, for the disappearance of pastures and food for the local fauna, which is forced to move closer to the villages to find sustenance.It's time to move on to real land management, integrated with human activities but still attentive to bio-diversity and the inclusion of the various natural worlds in a new order, which we could almost define as co-management between man and fauna.We have abandoned the territory for too long, leaving its management to the false myth of development.Now is the time to recover” concluded President Serpillo.