Damage prevention in the Province of Sondrio in summer 2023 and new funds from the Lombardy Region, Italy

Since the beginning of the WPIU (Wolf Prevention Intervention Unit) activities in Lombardy, 40 farmers in the Province of Sondrio have been provided with ad hoc support on prevention. Since 2021, 32 prevention kits have been delivered (of which 24 in 2023 alone) and 9 signs warning of the presence of livestock guarding dogs. These are the concrete activities implemented by the Province of Sondrio, which is directly responsible for the WPIU for the territory of the middle and lower Valtellina and Valchiavenna. Thanks to a specific contribution from the Lombardy Region within the framework of the LIFE WolfAlps EU project, specially appointed prevention experts contacted professional farms and amateur breeders in the area ‘door to door’, giving indications on how to improve or implement prevention tailored to the individual farm reality and carrying out 21 inspections at the farms.

These interventions are an important piece of response to an area, such as the Valtellina and Valchiavenna, where the growing presence of wolves is a source of social conflict. The Province collects the territory’s needs, manages the requests for prevention tools and directly delivers the fences. Of the prevention kits delivered, 18 were destined for Valchiavenna breeders (plus two more to be delivered in the coming weeks). Similar support activities for farmers are carried out in the other territories of the region by ERSAF Lombardy.

In order to cope with further requests for fences, with a new resolution of 8 August 2023, the Lombardy Region, among various measures to support the territories for actions to prevent and monitor the presence of wolves, allocated a further contribution to the Province of Sondrio for the purchase of damage prevention tools, in addition to the funds already allocated in 2022 and thanks to which the activity of supporting the territory in the prevention of wolf damage has been realised.