The Golden jackal of Ticino

Was he always a fixture of our landscape or did he arrive from outside of Ticino? Where did he come from? Maybe the Vigezzo valley in Italy? No one knows but yet he seems very comfortable in his surroundings in the Municipality of Onsernone, where a little more than a month ago he was spotted and photographed by the office of hunting and fishing. The images will be a first and will be logged in history as a rare sight – he has become a famous face across social media not only in Ticino but further afield – even having a moment of celebrity in the newspaper La Stampa of Turin which reported on it in the news pages.

Excellent news for biodiversity

‘I can confirm after the first sighting we received more sighted reports. At this point it can be assumed that the golden jackal may have established itself here with us. However, before being sure of it, it is necessary to wait and observe. Of course, for biodiversity it is excellent news, considering that its presence is due to natural evolution’ points out Federico Tettamanti, scientific collaborator of the Hunting and Fishing Office.

Feather weight (or almost)

According to our information, the canine has been seen 3-4 more times during the last month. It was noticed by a farmer in the small hamlets of Vergeletto (in the Alla Colletta area) and Crana. Weighing about twenty kilograms, it is comparable to the fox in its behaviour. Like the latter, it feeds on small animals, in particular mice, and is not dangerous for humans. This must be clearly specified.

It does not suffer from the heat

It is difficult to say, with certainty if the jackal will have problems settling in Ticino, where at least in spring, summer, and early autumn the climate is ideal for a species that is native to northern Africa and Asia. According to Swiss experts, on the other hand, its stable environment and above all its reproduction are not at all obvious. We will have to wait and see.

The movements

But where does the "Ticino" jackal come from? The most obvious answer should be Italy. In light of the fact that in the first decade of the 2000s the "canis aureus" (its scientific name) made its appearance precisely in the in Germany and Austria - reaching western Europe after crossing the Balkans - while in Switzerland the first absolute specimen had been "immortalised" by a photographic trap in winter 2011 in the north-western Alps during the monitoring of the lynx.

For four years he had never shown up reappearing in December 2015 in Surselva, in the Grisons. In this case the image taken was also by the photographic trap. A few weeks later a young male specimen had been killed, by mistake, by a hunter, who had perhaps confused him for a head of game. Finally, in March 2016, a sick jackal had been killed in the canton of Schwyz.

That time in Val Bavona

It must be concluded that a sighting (or presumed such) of the canine had already occurred in 2014 in Val Bavona. At the time, however, the presence of the animal had not been confirmed.

Jackals are a type of canine, animals that are related to dogs, coyotes, foxes and wolves. They look like a cross between a German shepherd and a fox. They have the fox's small face, delicate legs and fluffy tail, with the German shepherd's long, alert ears.