Alpago, the wolf attacks under the Dolada: 15 sheep preyed and missing

Davide Bortoluzzi had them in the mountain pastures. «I had to leave the dogs on the farm and the fence wasn’t enough. The institutions change the rules for the defense of the flocks “

ALPAGO. Attack of the wolf, Saturday night, on the slopes of Mount Dolada. There are about fifteen, including sheep and lambs, the heads killed while they were in an enclosure on the pasture.

Other sheep are still missing in the area of ​​the Plois Curago Rule, owner of the land where the sheep of Davide Bortoluzzi, owner of a breeding and dairy production company in Sitran, live in the mountain pastures from May to September. Unfortunately, the enclosure was not enough to thwart the attack of the wolves who did not encounter resistance, leaving the gutted carcasses of several animals on the ground before retreating.

“The LGDs, in the peak period of tourism, we decided to keep them down in the company”, points out Bortoluzzi, who declares that he is not so angry with the wolf “who only does his job and whose problem the regional and provincial offices they take charge rightly ». “But there is another problem that must be taken into serious consideration and that is that of providing correct information to people and tourists who meet the flocks, perhaps with their dogs in tow,” says the 36-year-old farmer who opened the sheep and goat breeding activities in Sitran in 2008, “because for the Maremma shepherds guarding the flock is their family and they attack anyone who gets too close or thinks of crossing it”.

Bortoluzzi refers to unpleasant episodes that have already happened to him in the past, with also legal consequences, which forced him to make the difficult decision to leave the dogs in the stable during the period of greatest tourist influx on the mountain paths.

“The protocol adopted by the Region for the defense of the flocks is valid, both for the highest enclosures and for the LGDs”, continues Bortoluzzi, “but it refers to that of a region like Abruzzo where conditions are different, both from a cultural and historical point of view (the wolf has always been there) and territorial, with our summer pastures frequented by tourists who often do not know the rules and do not know what behavior is better to adopt towards the grazing animals so as not to take risks ».

In the area, in addition to hikers who travel the various high-altitude trails, there are also free flight enthusiasts, families on walks and refugees. “In short, it is a protocol that is not applicable everywhere, and this should be taken into account”, emphasizes Bortoluzzi. Consequently, the farmer hopes that an information campaign will be implemented in this sense, supported and amplified also by local institutions, so as not to have to give up the precious work of the Maremma shepherds that the Veneto Region makes available to farmers under threat. of predators.