Project to reintroduce Italian partridge, first 200 eggs

Two hundred eggs collected, 200 small good wishes for our biodiversity heritage. The first actions of the European Life Perdix project were successful and the reintroduction of the Italian Partridge in nature is approaching.

The Italian partridge, Perdix perdix italica, until the last century widespread in large areas of the Belpaese and today considered formally extinct in nature, has numerous possibilities to return to sing in the cereal fields.

After a careful genetic selection conducted and supervised by ISPRA experts, the technical staff of the CUFAA Forestry Police began breeding at the Bieri Wildlife Center (Lucca) and collected the first 200 eggs, which will now be registered on a special database and started for controlled hatching.

The project, in addition to the establishment of a vital Starna italica population within the Valle del Mezzano SPA with the forecast of over 2,200 couples at the end of the project, thanks to precise genetic selection, breeding, conservation and safety measures for new individuals , provides for the mitigation of threats in the release area and the involvement of stakeholders through training courses with the collaboration of the hunting, dog, agricultural, environmentalist components and the precious suggestions of the French experts.

The LIFE Perdix project, co-financed by the European Community, aims to protect Italian biodiversity starting from the conservation of the Partridge Italica and sees a broad partnership led by the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection (ISPRA), the Carabinieri of the Forestry Unit Command, collaborate together. environmental and agri-food (CUFAA), the Italian Hunting Federation, the Fedération Nationale des Chasseurs, Legambiente, the Po Delta Park and the National Agency for the Italian dog world that co-finances the project.