In the Stelvio Park there are too many deer:the culling of 1500 specimens is underway

Within the Stelvio National Park, within 5 years, approximately 1500 deer will be killed and their meat will be sold at 3.50 euros per kilo.The intervention is justified by the fact that the overall deer population would be so numerous to cause ecological imbalances.The killings are part of the "Deer Conservation and Management Plan", in which hunters will be directly involved.To achieve the objective, the slaughter of 180 deer was planned for the first two years, while for the following three years the limit is 400 animals per year.All things considered, thus, approximately 900 specimens will remain.Despite the opposition of animal rights activists, the provincial council gave the green light to the Plan in November 2022 with the approval of a resolution presented by the vice-president and councilor for the environment, Marco Tonina.According to the institutions, the overabundance of deer in the Trentino section of the protected area has caused negative repercussions on both the fauna and flora of the area.

In fact, the resolution specifies that the supernumerary species would be the basis of limitations on the growth of the smaller populations of chamois and roe deer, as well as problems to the structure of the forest itself.Deer, in fact, graze on the apical buds of plants, such as spruce, which in this way grow low, without developing the trunk.The targeted ungulates would also have damaged the hay causing losses of up to 30%.For these reasons, the abatement plan also obtained the green light from the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA).The environmentalist associations do not think the same way and, for their part, underline how the decision of the provincial government is instead fully part of the "devastating effects of the "wild hunting" amendment, approved by Parliament at the beginning of the year, and which from that moment explicitly allows hunters to enter urban areas and protected zones."Indeed they will be around a hundred hunters will be able to enter within the National Park and follow up on the abatement plan."According to the Anti Vivisection League, however, it is precisely the hunters who are at the root of the problem.In all the woods of the province of Trento - the animal rights association denounced in a note - thousands of foraging structures are authorized to artificially feed deer during the difficult winter season, thus increasing the number of individuals to guarantee a greater quantity of hunting of victims in the following hunting season.A practice strongly condemned by ISPRA itself, but authorized by the autonomous province.

However, the artificial control of animal populations is not new.Often, in a context that is already in itself unbalanced due to the intrusive human presence, it is necessary to intervene simulating ecological dynamics that restore the most natural conditions possible.The case of wild boars is emblematic, which in certain areas of the Peninsula, due to the almost total absence of natural predators, proliferate excessively to the point of preventing the natural regeneration of vegetation and causing significant damage to the agricultural sector.From 2015 to 2021, it is estimated that the damage caused by wild boars to agriculture has approached 120 million euros.To put it in other words, the intervention planned for the Stelvio Park could actually be necessary, but what is controversial are the methods.Entrusting the control of wild populations to private individuals, even if trained for the purpose, is in fact the easiest but at the same time most contestable decision.Also because, especially if the context is that of a National Park, the available alternatives should at least be taken into consideration.«For a real wildlife management of the Stelvio deer, provided that a real overnumbering was proven – underlined the National Animal Protection Agency – all the principles made available by science should be applied and not promoted for-profit abatement campaigns conducted by private individuals.For example, the contraceptive drug Gonacon could be used, already successfully used in the USA on white-tailed deer, or wildlife corridors could be used to disperse the animals.We could also rely on natural mechanisms, ensuring that wolves can finally exercise the selection function that nature has assigned to them."

In the note, the animal rights organization does not shy away from sending a few digs at the president of the autonomous province of Trento, Maurizio Fugatti, known for a certain unscientific fury towards wildlife.But it is unlikely that he had a hand in all this.In fact, it would be the first time that the green light has been given to a similar plan in Trentino, which also includes withdrawals from individuals, while there have already been interventions of this type in the park sectors in Lombardy and Alto Adige.In general, it was back in 1997 that the Stelvio Park began to be interested in the problem of high densities of deer in its territory.The impacts exerted by the population on ecosystems and economic activities have therefore been known for some time and are still unresolved.Therefore, effective conservation of biodiversity cannot ignore the need to intervene.

[by Simone Valeri]