Last week, our project partner Provincia Autonoma di Trento promoted a conference about livestock guarding dogs (LGDs), in collaboration with MUSE, a partner of the LIFE WOLFALPS project, and the Trentino breeders association. During the first day, representatives of the Office for wildlife of Provincia Autonoma di Trento demonstrated the management practices for large carnivores in Trentino, and Dott.ssa Silvia Dalmasso (veterinary specialized in LGDs) explained how to breed, raise, and educate these dogs. On the second day, breeders had the opportunity to visit some of the farms (10 in all) that currently, in Trentino, use LGDs to prevent damages by large carnivores.

While LGDs have been used for ten years now to defend livestock from the wolf attacks in the western Alps (wolf returned to these areas twenty years ago), they have always taken part in livestock breeding practices in the Apennines (where bear and wolf have never disappeared from). In Trentino, thanks to the LIFE DINALP BEAR project, we are promoting the use of this “innovative” prevention measure, as proper care and training of LGDs can greatly reduce livestock damages caused by large carnivores.