ERTO AND CASSO – The wolf showed up again, among the mountains that are his home. The last sighting dates back to recent days at the town petrol station mountains, where the animal in complete tranquility, he was eating a doe. Under the amazed and worried eyes of the customers who were refueling. The mayor of Erto e Casso, Antonio Carrara, confirmed the episode: «I received videos of a wolf that was feeding on a doe at the petrol station: there were a lot of people, and the animal was consuming its meal 40 meters away from people, undisturbed and in front of everyone’s eyes. It’s not a completely normal situation. It’s worrying.”
FEAR
And the mayor is truly worried: «These animals can be seen during the day, they no longer only roam at night. This means they are no longer afraid. We will end up facing a situation like that of the wild boars in Rome.” Every day in the Ertano area there are between two and three dead deer, but “there are people in the village, it is not acceptable for such dangerous animals to arrive here peacefully”, comments Carrara again, who also refers to the fact that “they cannot be take action, as they tell us that we must try to protect deer that are at risk of being attacked by wolves. We already do it, but we can’t do more than this. I understand very well that we are talking about nature, but the safety of citizens cannot be put at risk. They tell us that the wolf doesn’t attack people, only animals, but finding yourself face to face with a wolf while getting petrol isn’t the best.”
THE BACK
These animals usually move in packs: «There are children walking in the town – states the mayor of Erto e Casso – and when driving around in the car I see them too: they are not as thin as they say, they are well structured, they have a powerful back. And if the deer eat grass and geraniums, I don’t know how far the wolf can reach”, says Carrara again, who continues referring to the sighting of wolves which dates back to the years between 1910 and 1912: “I didn’t think that this animal would return in town. He is no longer afraid of man, and he too, like men, gets used to the environment in which he finds himself.”
THE ALARM
And the mayor concludes by returning to the episode of a few days ago: «Seeing an animal tearing another animal to pieces, the blood and the tranquility with which it does it, intimidates people who, in a similar moment, don’t know how to behave. We don’t know whether to run away or stay still.” And he then refers to a further disturbing episode that happened some time ago: «One day, a resident of Erto found a bear in front of his house. And in a moment like this, what do you do? This situation is no longer sustainable.”
