Natural scienceMaggia Valley municipalities launch appeal for help due to wolf predation
SDA
28.8.2024 - 15:23
The wolf is threatening the alpine farms in the valley and therefore also tourism: this was the message launched by the Association of Municipalities of the Maggia Valley to the media on Wednesday. The Maggia Valley villages are calling on the Ticino government to make "swift decisions".
28.08.2024, 15:23
SDA
Alpine farming is of great importance for landscape conservation, explained the Vice President of the Association of Municipalities of the Maggia Valley at a media conference in Lodano on Wednesday. If alpine farming were to disappear, this would also threaten tourism in the valley and ultimately in Ticino.
Since 2021, the number of alpine farms has decreased by 24.4 percent. The reason for this is wolves, which, according to figures from the municipalities of the Maggia Valley, have killed significantly more goats in the last three years than before.
"I'm furious," said one farmer in the municipal council chamber of Lodano near Maggia. "Ho un ladro in casa" - "I have a thief in the house", the man continued, alluding to the wolf. Every morning this summer, he went out to the pastures full of fear. Every morning he was afraid of finding dead goats again.
His work had once been the most beautiful in the world. Being out in the morning at sunrise and seeing the goats coming towards you was wonderful. But his work no longer has a future. He will retire in a year's time and he advises young people not to follow a similar career path.
"Distance between the government and the population"
On the steep slopes of the Ticino valleys, it is often impossible to protect the animals in accordance with the law, explained the President of the Ticino Farmers' Association, Omar Pedrini. This is similar in Valais or central Switzerland.
If the wolf attacks continue, the typical fresh goat's cheese from the Maggia Valley will eventually disappear from the shelves, Pedrini outlined a bleak future. Despite this, politicians are doing nothing.
Center President Fiorenzo Dadò, himself also a member of the Association of Municipalities of the Maggia Valley, pointed out with great regret the great distance and lack of understanding of the Ticino government for the living environment of the people in the valley.