Colombi urbani e agricoltura: il caso della provincia di Pisa

The countryside is visited daily by feral pigeons that find in agricultural habitat an important and well exploited source of food. These feeding flights are a significant source of damage to agriculture and for this reason a plan for pigeons culling has been drawn by the Pisa Province for crop protection. In order to better assess interactions between pigeons and agriculture, three major topics have been investigated, namely: census of urban population of pigeons, study of their home range and of their habitat preferences in the countryside

A Step Change in Wild Boar Management in Tuscany Region, Central Italy

In this chapter, reducing the high-density populations of wild boars in an Italian’s Tuscany region is addressed as a measure of controlling crop damage and road accidents. The issue is usually tackled from a technical and rarely sociological point of view, making the proposed and implemented solutions less effective. The results presented in these chapter highlight the importance of awareness of the social context when the technical choices are applied. The management of ungulates creates economic interests that oppose changes that shift the economic balance, even when the actions taken are for the benefit of the entire community’. In the previous decades, the wild boar populations have increased considerably in Italy in the Tuscany region. As a consequence of this phenomenon, damage to crops and road accidents has increased. In 2016, the Tuscany region enacted a law to change the management of ungulates by promoting individualism in unsustainable harvest rate areas, allowing shooting wild boar with stalking and selling the meat and maintaining a corporate approach in sustainable harvest rate areas. In three years of enforcing the law, damage to crops and road accidents have decreased significantly and meet supply chain has started. On the other hand, a strong reaction against this Law by wild boar drive hunters emerged. The region is, consequently, faced with an emblematic case where political intervention in future is inevitable in order to mediate between long-term results and short-term consensus

Genetic variability of roe deer <i>Capreolus capreolus</i> in Italy: electrophoretic survey on populations of different origin

In order to investigate genetic variability and differentiation of roe deer Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Italy, four populations were examined for polymorphism at thirty-two gene loci by means of vertical polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Mean values of polymorphism (mean P = 15.6%, SD 4.4%) and expected average heterozygosity (mean He = 4.7%, SD 1.9%) were comparable to those reported previously for roe deer populations of Central Europe. Moreover, the results confirmed that roe deer is one of the genetically most variable deer species yet studied. Nei's standard genetic distances (mean D = 0.008, SD 0.004) were consistent with the values generally obtained at the level of local populations in deer species. Estimates of relative genetic differentiation showed that 11.5% of the total diversity can be assigned to genetic divergence among populations. Differences in levels of genetic variation among the Italian populations studied are discussed with respect to their respective demographic origin and historical background. The implications of our data for the management of roe deer in Italy are outlined

Wolf food habits and wild ungulate availability in the Foreste Casentinesi National Park, Italy

We investigated wolf Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 food habits in northern Apennines by examining 240 scats collected between 1988 and 1992. In the same area we also estimated densities of the most common wild ungulates. Wild ungulates were the main prey of the wolf and accounted for more than 92% of both frequencies of occurrence and mean percentage volume. During our study period we observed a decrease in the use of roe deer and an increase in the use of wild boar. Moreover selection of wild boar by wolves increased too, but selection of roe deer decreased by almost 400%, with moderately fluctuating deer densities. The impact of predation was generally greatest on young animals. Roe deer fawns and red deer calves were predated 3.14 and 2.18 times respectively more than available. Wild boar also were predated mainly in their first year but more often from 6 months of age than before

Le pecore e il lupo: indagine sul punto di vista degli allevatori nella provincia di Pisa

Aim of the present survey is to focus on the perception of wolf by sheep farmers in the Province of Pisa (Val di Cecina) and to collect their impressions about its presence and suggestions about possible solutions. Furthermore, we tried to evaluate the level of knowledge and the judgment of the farmers about the current regional law. The wolf is perceived as a problem by 86.3% of the farmers, who give him the responsibility for 91% of the reported predation events, in spite of the fact that this was really assessed only in 31% of cases. 72.6% of the farmers do not know the present regional law; however, 61.9% of them state that it should be reviewed. Only 28.6% of the farmers is in favour of a financial support for preventive measures; 42.9% think that wolves should be captured and transolcated far from sheep farms and 49.2% wish that wolves, that are believed to derive from transolcations, are culled. Wolf attacks are seldom officially reported, as compensations are not considered adequate and farmers are obliged to sustain additional costs for carcass destruction; therefore, there is a scarce control of this phenomenon. Active participation, information on prevention methods, awakening of local populations, together with more attention from lawmakers, are essential tools for improving the tolerance and acceptation of the predator and for attenuating the conflict with zootechnical activities. Veterinarians play a key role for spreading these informations

Sheep predation: Charcteristics and risk factors

Predation has always been an important problem in extensive sheep farms, causing serious economic losses to the farmers. Official predation reports have recently been decreasing in the District of Pisa, in spite of the presence of two wolf packs in the area. The aim of the present research was to obtain reliable information on the characteristics of predation and to estimate the effectiveness of existing prevention methods in sheep farms of the southern District of Pisa, in order to set up predictive models for an improved and more focused prevention plan and support interventions by public authorities. On-farm surveys were carried out in 73 semi-extensive sheep farms. Predation events were reported by 75.3% of the farmers. Wolves seemed to be responsible for most of those events, although their actual role could be confirmed only in 34% of cases. Most of the events occurred in spring and 85.1% of them were concentrated during night time. The average number of sheep killed during each attack was 7.05. In 22.3% of cases, the number of sheep killed was ≥10. Proximity to protected areas and the presence of thick vegetation cover significantly affected the probability of a farm being subjected to chronic predation. Farm size was significantly higher in those cases. No clear indication about the effectiveness of prevention methods could be obtained from our survey. The results of this investigation highlighted the impact of predation in the Southern District of Pisa and emphasized the need for finding technical and political solutions to this problem. Attention should be focused on large farms, with thick vegetation cover and located close to protected areas. Further investigations should be carried out in order to test the effectiveness of suitable prevention methods in these farms