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.