Description
This evocative story finds its place in the 'Storia dei cervi di Paneveggio' (History of the Paneveggio Deer), a brief reconstruction of the initial moments of the well-known Paneveggio deer enclosure drawn up by the then pro-tempore Administrator of the State Forests of Cavalese, Dr. Donato Nardin.
'During the winter of 1955-56, a young doe, evidently strayed from the group and in difficulty due to the snow, was taken in by a farmer in the upper Val di Sole, foraged and kept throughout the season in his stable. The Trento section of the Italian Hunting Federation, through its president Mr Falzolgher, asked me if the animal could be kept at Paneveggio in a special enclosure. I gladly accepted the offer and in the spring of 1956 I had an enclosure of about 1.5 hectares built in the woods above the Casa Cantoniera; the doe was housed in it and was immediately christened Selva.
I then took steps to find a male in order to use the opportunity to multiply the species. In the autumn of that year, or perhaps the following spring, I managed to obtain a male and a female deer, against some roe deer, from the brewery in Pedavena, which had a small zoo. These two were called Marco and Vecia.
Thus the first nucleus of Paneveggio deer was formed. The following year (1958) the first fawn of Vecia was born and in '59 both doe gave birth regularly. In 1963, when the group had already reached a dozen heads, an unexpected event occurred. At the time of the mating season, a wild male who happened to be in the area and had evidently been attracted by the females in the enclosure, wrestled the Mark through the enclosure's netting at night and opened a gap from which the whole group left. The breach was repaired and later the Marco was also recaptured with the old females and their young. They remained at large, however, and the other 7-8 animals were never caught again. It was from this group, probably increased by other arrivals from outside, that the population that colonised the upper Travignolo valley originated, and which then also passed into the Primiero area.
In the following days, the incident of the nocturnal struggle between the two males through the net was repeated several times. The following day, however, the Mark always returned spontaneously and disconsolately to the fence, evidently repulsed by the surviving stag, who had now become the leader of the group (I myself saw the latter pass through the meadows of Paneveggio, pushing the group of females and young like a sheepdog). Once the mating season was over, the Selva, Vecia and their young returned to the enclosure.
In the following spring, the Marco, continually damaging the enclosure, expressed the desire to leave and was then let loose again. During the summer of '64 he always remained in the vicinity of the settlement, showing that he had absolutely no fear of man. He allowed himself to be photographed, accepted food from his hands, etc., but occasionally showed signs of nervousness: more than once, he knocked over people who had come too close to him with his horns, sometimes even attacking the vehicles of those who had stopped to observe him. This was the case with the coach that, as had long been his custom, had stopped to let passengers admire this rare specimen in the wild.
The music changed, however, when the mating season arrived and one day, evidently rejected once again by the pack leader, he took it out on the man, as if mad. It was on the morning of 4 October 1964 when the Mark stormed up to a group of lumberjacks who were working and, unable to attack them because they were sheltering behind trees, unleashed his fury by beating logs and branches to the ground. In the late afternoon, he attacked a worker who was quietly making firewood, forcing him to save himself in extremis on a tree. His cries for help were answered by other workers who, with sticks and shouts, managed to drive the deer away and rescue the unfortunate man. It should be noted that the worker attacked was one who had been foraging for deer for years and was therefore certainly familiar with the animal.
Shortly afterwards, while in the house of the marshal commanding the station, the forestry station staff and the gamekeeper were commenting on the incident with the assaulted worker, encouraging him to grapple, more cries for help came from the meadows below. Everyone ran towards the place of the cries, shining a torch because by now night had fallen. The scene that presented itself to them was truly tragic: the deer, not at all frightened by their presence and their attempts to drive it away, continued to gore the now unconscious body of another person. This was the electrician who, having just finished dinner at the canteen, was returning with his son to the station, where he occupied a small flat. Unable to do anything else, the Mark was immediately shot down by the gamekeeper, while the injured man had to be hospitalised where he was kept for several days before recovering. And so the progenitor of the Paneveggio deer disappeared."
