“It acts like a frontier”: Ticino scientists test anti-wolf collars

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The collar emits pheromones, the chemist said in an interview with Freiburg’s daily newspaper “La Liberté” on Saturday. These natural chemicals “act as boundaries. “They tell the predator’s brain that this prey and this territory does not belong to it,” the chemist explained.

After testing in the laboratory and at Austria’s Buchenberg Zoo, Staedler and ethological biologist Federico Tettamanti collared 728 farm animals, “mostly goats, sheep and calves,” in Switzerland and Italy this year. Evaluation of the trial is planned to be completed in the fall.

However, the scientist also admitted that the collar was not fully effective and said, “We have had a total of 10 victims so far. “Seven of them were killed in the major attack in Grisons.” According to Staedler, all but one of the fatal attacks occurred in herds where only some of the animals were on a leash. Therefore, all animals will probably need to be fitted with a leash.

The project is initially self-financing and the collars are made by hand. However, the Federal Environment Agency has expressed interest in supporting cantons that want to protect livestock with collars. Staedler continued: “The French state will finance a pilot project in the Lot section, and in Italy we have started discussions with regional authorities in Trentino.”

(SDA)

Source : Blick