A few years ago, the campaign «If you love me, don’t touch me!» he had taught that roe deer puppies should not be caressed because the smell of humans would prevent their mothers from recognizing them and continuing to take care of them, thus condemning them to a premature death. Today, faced with the proliferation of these ungulates, the competent authorities are launching a new appeal: in the event of a car accident involving an adult roe deeran increasingly frequent event on the roads of Bergamo, you absolutely must not approach, touch or caress it: instead of calming him, he is subjected to severe stress which can accelerate his death due to cardiac arrest.
A significant episode in this sense occurred Monday evening in Loverenear the roundabout in Poltragno: around at 10.30 pm a car hit an adult roe deer, three or four years old, and walked away without stopping; other passers-by stopped on the side of the road and approached the animal: convinced they could help it, they accompanied it towards the woods; However, the animal struggled to stand on its legs, and several people caressed it, convinced they were reassuring it. «Unfortunately this is not the case – explain some wildlife technicians –: the roe deer has a particularly shy nature: a puppy, if it is caressed, is no longer approached by adults, but even adult specimens they cannot bear to be touched by humans: you risk causing them a shock that kills them within a few minutes. What you can do is try putting a cloth bag on his head, or a blindfold, so that in the dark he can calm down and wait for the arrival of the personnel responsible for this type of intervention.” The roe deer hit in Lovere, upon the arrival of the provincial police officers, has been suppressed because he was clearly suffering: he probably would have died as a result of the injuries sustained in the impact with the car, but the proximity of the men did not help him.
