Wolves on the plain. Again. After those in Pozzoleone and Schiavon in early March, recently two specimens were seen roaming in the countryside in Mussolente. It happened a few hundred meters south of the SP 248 Schiavonesca-Marosticana, in via Cavour, near the homes of the Gazzola and Bontorin families. The two predators emerged from a hedge, trotting cautiously, perhaps a little disoriented, among the cultivated fields along via Cavour. The news quickly spread, as often happens in cases like these. It is not the first time that a wolf has been spotted in the village. It had already happened in April 2021 in Casoni, where the cameras of a house, at dawn, captured a wolf along the Lugana stream near via Papa Giovanni XXIII. Towards the end of June of that same year, at night, two wolves on two different occasions were noticed in Rosà, not far from the SS 47 in Borgo Tocchi and in via Carpellina. It is likely that the two wolves arrived on via Cavour crossing the village from Monte Grappa, after crossing the less anthropized area of the Piana d'Oriente.
Considering that in a few weeks the females will give birth, it is plausible that these specimens noticed in unusual contexts are young males "dispersing", away from the packs. In February, a wolf was seen roaming among the trees along Strada Cadorna between the third and fourth hairpin bends just above Romano. Surprise among residents was taken for granted.
Those who own courtyard or companion animals and those who legitimately breed livestock fear the presence of the predator. On the other hand, the wolf is now part of our natural environment, and there has been no attack on humans in Europe for 170 years. As the retired general of the forest rangers Daniele Zovi, a profound connoisseur of the predator, had already said, "the wolf is reclaiming its environment. Let's hope for wiser men more inclined to see it as a rightful member of that nature that we have so tormented."
(GdV, martedì 23 aprile)