The training course was coordinated by Deputy Commissioner Giancarlo Papitto of the State Forestry Corps, who is in charge at SFC for the two projects LIFE PLUTO and WolfAlps. Its purpose was to illustrate the training and use of dogs in poison-detecting operations to handlers that will work in the Alpine area (especially in Piedmont and Veneto) within the LIFE WolfAlps Project, which aims at protecting wolves in the Alps, and of which the State Forestry Corps is an associated beneficiary.
A Spanish handler taught theoretical and practical lessons on dog training for the search of poison and, at the end of the course, consigned six trained dogs to the new Italian handlers.
Anna Cenerini, LIFE PLUTO project manager, contributed to the training’s theoretical session by explaining the actions that were taken within the LIFE ANTIDOTO Project (a precursory project in this field) to combat the use of poison. She especially reported on the two Anti-poison Dog Units that were created in the framework of ANTIDOTO, and on their development and enlargement through PLUTO.
Guido Ceccolini, an ornithologist working on the LIFE PLUTO Project, illustrated which wild bird species are mostly vulnerable to poison.
Superintendent Alessandra Mango of the State Forestry Corps (handler of one of the two Anti-poison Dog Units created within ANTIDOTO by the Gran Sasso-Laga National Park with the support of the State Forestry Corps) explained which toxic substances are used for dog training and which procedure must be followed during field inspections, especially on spots where poison baits or carcasses were found, to effectively analyse the crime scene and collect finds. Handler Mango could also demonstrate the detecting work with Dingo and Jonai, two anti-poison dogs that work with her since  2010.