Ungulate populations
The fauna of the Veneto Prealps has long suffered from
the negative influence of colonisation and exploitation
of the mountainous terrain, which climaxed around the
end of the 19th century. During the course of the 20th
century, large native predators – like wolf (Canis lupus
L.), bear (Ursus arctos L.) and lynx (Lynx lynx (L.)) –
and large herbivores – like red deer (Cervus elaphus
L.) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus (L.)) – vanished
from the Veneto mountains.
Italian law forbids game hunting within the State
Domain. This protection has allowed species like roe
deer to thrive inside the CF, although at low-density
population levels.
Around the second half of the 1950s, roe deer populations
began to grow, and since the 1970s red deer has
reappeared in the area – probably due to colonisers
from northern regions like Austria. There is also a
small population of fallow deer (Cervus dama (L.))
(50–60 head), its growth being constantly monitored
since fallow deer is not native to this area (De Battisti
& Masutti 1995).
Red deer populations have been growing constantly
even outside the CF boundaries, and hunting has also
increased (Figure 3). The CF has long been a refuge
for cervids. As a matter of fact, a rutting area has existed
in the CF since 1975, the only one of its kind, and
has been monitored annually since 1996.
A series of drive censuses, conducted over a homogeneous
sample area, allowed measurement of roe
deer mean density at about 9–10 head over 100 ha
(Figure 4). Red deer population density has also been
monitored with the aid of halogen spotlights: the value
for the CF and surrounding area is 2.5–3 head over
100 ha (Figure 5). The population seems unbalanced
in spite of its growth: eco-demographic surveys mea