The training course, which takes place in the beautiful landscape of the Marsiliana State Nature Reserve, in the province of Grosseto, began on 11th April 2016, and will finish on 6th May 2016, enabling the State Forestry Corps operators to follow the expert and friendly Spanish trainer and handler Raúl Martín, supported by his wife Alejandra, and to learn the techniques to train the dogs for this delicate discipline as well as the fieldwork, to carry out effective and safe inspections to search for poisoned bites and carcasses.
The four-week training is necessary for the handlers to begin to establish an initial contact with their new dogs foretelling a very close relationship made of empathy and mutual trust, which will set the basis of an inseparable and effective couple that will work in 11 regions of mainland Italy, in order to avoid the poison related death of many wild animals and, sometimes, of pets.
In addition to the first six dogs - four athletic and lively Malinois Belgian Shepherds (Vida, Puma, Noche and Africa) and two strong and sweet Labradors (Danko and Thor) - just as many other dogs will arrive in the next autumn, so that each of the six Anti-poison Dog Units of the LIFE PLUTO project will be able to count on two dogs besides one handler and two supporting operators, the latter having already been trained during a past training course. The headquarters of the Anti-poison Dog Units are five National Parks (Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona and Campigna; Monti Sibillini; Abruzzo Lazio and Molise, Cilento, Pollino), and the Provincial Headquarters of Isernia, in Molise.
In addition to the six new handlers of the LIFE PLUTO project, also the two new handlers (who have been given a labrador and a German Shepherd) of the Anti-poison Dog Units that will be activated by the State Forestry Corps in the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano National Park within the LIFE MICRO-Lupo project, and the new handler (who has been entrusted with a labrador) of the Anti-poison Dog Unit that the State Forestry Corps will manage in the province of Grosseto within the LIFE MedWolf project, will take part in the training course.
The course is mainly divided into theoretical and intense and engaging practical sessions managed by the Spanish trainer through a continuous interaction with the handlers of the State Forestry Corps. Furthermore, it has been planned the participation of expert operators of the State Forestry Corps (Giancarlo Papitto), of the Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains National Park (Anna Cenerini), of the veterinarians from the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Umbria e Marche (Nacer Haouet and Gina Biasini), and of a nutritionist (Valerio Bianchini) from Trainer, an Italian brand of animal feed for cats and dogs which supports the Anti-poison Dog Units by supplying feed and equipment.
A precious exchange of experiences for the new handlers will be possible thanks to the participation of Alessandra Mango - handler of Italy's first Anti-poison Dog Unit established in the Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains National Park with the LIFE ANTIDOTO project, which have been working for five and a half years by now - and of Emanuele Gallo and Simone Peraldo, handlers of the Anti-poison dog Units of the State Forestry Corps within the LIFE WolfAlps project, working since 2015.
