Action A.5

Individuating nuclei and areas for the capture of Apennine Chamois

The objective of this action is to individuate, in the Majella National Park and the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park, areas that can, on the one hand, render the operations efficient in capturing the animals (C.1) and then, their release in the Sibillini (C.4) and in the Sirente Velino (C.5), and on the other, to guarantee that the nuclei selected will be able to adapt to the new areas. By using the individual tagging of a large number of animals and so over a period of time following the groups' behavioural patterns, it will be possible to find out if a nuclei observed in a given moment is a part of an already noted herd, or is forming a new one. This will avoid the capture of new nuclei in a phase of colonization and only focus on the more stable established herds in an area. The animals captured during action A.4 will, therefore, be individually recognizable due to the use of auricular tags or radio-collars (VHF and satellite) mainly used on female adults of about 9 years of age.