This July, the project continued to work on educating people in the Alpine region on livestock protection, from stakeholders to members of the public. Below are some highlights of last month’s activities:
Successful training day in Austria
At a small farm in Lower Austria, the LIFEstockProtect team assisted during a livestock protection training day. The task was to construct an optimal enclosure for deer that would protect the game animals from depredation. 12 participants took part altogether, including individuals who also kept game in reserves, foresters and hunters, as well as the owner of a wildlife park. The team would like to thank Doris Wimmer for her perfect planning and the fence-building experts for their insider tips.
School workshop in Adnet
At a workshop organised by project partner European Wilderness Society, schoolchildren from MS Adnet in Salzburg learned about the benefits of livestock protection in the Alps. Some of the pupils had a personal relationship to the topic, as their parents owned farms themselves. The class reacted positively to the workshop and were highly motivated even after 4 hours of learning.
Excursion to the Soy-Alm
On the 24th interested members of the public (plus their dogs) trekked up to the Soy-Alm pasture, located in the beautiful Martello Valley in South Tyrol, Italy. On the way up, local stakeholders informed the group of economic issues facing the region’s farmers, including emigration and land abandonment. When they reached the top, the group encountered the 150 fearless goats grazing in a basin above the pasture, along with the working dog watching over them. Her perfect behaviour towards the visitors was remarkable and showed the importance of well-socialised LGDs for herding work in an alpine area heavily frequented by tourists.
