Large Carnivores, due to their history and perhaps their reputation, have been feared and hunted for a long time. One of the reasons could be the lack of knowledge people have about large carnivores – We have strong feelings about them but we don’t really know them or know how to coexist with them, limiting their damages and our phobias.
Wolves, bears and lynxes have always lived in our mountains and shared this precious environment with us. Yet, humans always thought that there wasn’t enough space for both. It was us or them. Today, we have very powerful instruments to make this coexistence possible. Scientific communication is one of them, and might even be the most efficient because it influences people’s ideas and feelings.
I live in Trentino, a region in the northern part of Italy surrounded by the Alps. In this small “green lung”, there are now tens of bears, several wolfpacks and one lynx. These animals are part of our culture and their existence confirms that this environment can still host large predators.
The shadow of fear, however, remains. A fear ready turn into rage as soon as a breeder finds a head of cattle predated or a beekeeper sees his hives destroyed. Fear and anger are tough enemies to fight against. Communication and education are great and essential weapons that we can and must use.
In the last twenty years, Trentino carried out many communication campaigns which I will try to summarize hereafter based on the report called “Rapporto Orso” (Bear Report), now renamed “Rapporto Grandi Carnivori” (Large Carnivore Report). This annual report was published for the first time in 2007 and since then it has been one of the main initiatives to help the general public better understand Large Carnivores.
A brief introduction about what happened here in the last twenty years is necessary. Until the beginning of 1990s, there were no wolves in the Alps. They had all been hunted and gone missing from our woods for more than a hundred years. Yet, the bears never disappeared from Trentino: the last region of the Alps to host them. Unfortunately, in the late 1990s, there were only 3, maybe 4 bears left, which isn’t enough to ensure the species survival. Today, if the bear is still with us, we owe it to a great project called “Life Ursus” (a whole article should be written just about it). Between 1999 and 2002, Life Ursus enabled the release of 10 Slovenian bears (3 males and 7 females) in Trentino; this reintroduction allowed the raise of the current population.
The wolf history is a little bit different. He succeeded all by himself and step by step, took back his environment returning to the Alps from the small areas in the centre and south of Italy, where he was able to survive. In Trentino, the first wolf sighting report dates back to 2009 and the first wolfpack formed between 2012 and 2013. From this moment on, we have seen a strong recovery of this species in the area. This explains why scientific communication about bears started in 2000, while the one about wolf started about 10 years later.
The campaign called “Conosci l’orso Bruno” (Get to know the brown bear) started in 2003 supported by the Autonomous Province of Trento (PAT), the Adamello – Brenta National Park (PNAB), the Natural Science Museum (now MUSE) and a wildlife park (Parco Faunistico di Spormaggiore). Since then, many initiatives have been implemented, such as school projects and collaborations. Hundreds of students from all over Italy took part in the guided tours, labs, field trips and had the chance to meet and talk with the experts. Little kids listen to stories and start learning about Large Carnivore habits and behaviours; the older ones also learn to recognize animal tracks and have the chance to discuss their questions and satisfy their curiosities with foresters and scientists. Field trips help their learning to feel part of nature and to respect the environment.
Year after year the number of Large Carnivores has increased. Bears are now several tens and wolves disperse easily in the new territory forming wolfpacks. Then, predations began and the images of donkeys, sheep and cows killed by their predators started to appear on newspapers front pages; hives were found to be marked by the unmistakable bear print and the population started to be scared. Also, the ones who haven’t been directly damaged feared the woods and changed their habits to avoid a potential encounter. People started thinking that this new situation restricted their rights and the ones who have been directly affected fed their fears with rage and revenge.
We know that, when things worsen, the key to success is to continue and never give up. Now, more than ever, people need to understand how to behave, what to do in critical situations and how to limit and control every possible harm. In these circumstances, communication continues to play a key role.
In addition to school projects and evenings seminars, several initiatives with breeders and beekeepers have been carried out which includes a new website, a mailing list, information flyers, printed paper materials, press involvement, bear signs and behavioural information placed in bear habitats.
Every year a training course is offered to the MUSE pilots and coaches and the new science museum of Trento has become a powerful tool of scientific dissemination. MUSE has also been involved in a 5-year project (2013 – 2018) that coordinated the scientific communication of Life WolfAlps, a project focusing on human-wolf coexistence that involved the whole alpine area. Specific laboratories and several new activities have been planned to involve different age groups. Activities are often based on debates, brainstorming, role games and board games that are useful to understand the natural environment dynamics and people’s different points of view. These activities are carried out also outside the Trentino region. Conventions, trade fairs and other social events are the perfect places to interact with people and engage in interesting debates. People feel free to express their anger and fears while discussing with people from other regions and recognizing other realities, which helps to understand this challenging situation and identify potential solutions. From here, one of the main communication goals is to be able to reach the whole population. Different age groups and social classes must be involved. Games, photo contests and drawing contests for kids become a valuable tool.
Professionals in this area, like myself, firmly believe in what they do. We learned that people’s mind can change or at least communication professionals can broaden their points of view. A wolf, a bear, or any other large predator is never going to stop doing what’s necessary to survive. We can’t stop predations and we can’t win on fear. What we can really do is inform people and provide them with cultural and material instruments so that we can control and maybe reduce the population’s “state of alert” mind-set. Accepting and understanding that a balanced coexistence is possible and that wildlife and humans should both be able to enjoy the pure mountain environment while deeply respecting it is key, and education leads to that respect.
In these dark times, we hope that scientific communication and research won’t be underestimated. They are the foundation for an educated population and conscious next generations so that they become aware of environmental conservation and they are able to secure human activities that are part of the culture and traditions. Coexistence is a realistic goal and every challenge, even when it’s tough, is a great source of satisfaction.
Some of the most significant and successful initiatives will be described more specifically in following four articles. We’ll interview those who personally worked and are still working on the projects described above. This will give us the opportunity to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the tools used, based on the feedback received and we will be able to identify approaches that can help other people to improve their own human-wildlife coexistence projects.
