In the footsteps of the golden jackal to reconstruct the difficult relationship between us and wild nature

Climbing the Carso, she listened to all the voices: both the howls in the night and the concerns of residents and farmers. Then she deepened thanks to research in universities, dialogues with scientists, study and in the end she traced – condensing it into a novel of love and adventure – the difficult relationship of man with an animal still little known in Italy: the golden jackal . Sara Segantina 26-year-old young writer and naturalist, has just published a new book entitled The Golden Dog (Rizzoli).

Known for her commitment as an activist in Fridays For Future Italia, as well as for her role as a popularizer in the RaiTre broadcast, Geo, this time Segantin has decided to tell through the exploits of the character of Camilla, an animal rights student who, together with her three friends Tom, Elisa and Max are determined to save baby jackals from a poacher, a story that puts the complex debate on the coexistence between humans and wild animals back at the center.

A book in which it emerges – also in light of the recent news stories of the JJ4 bear – how it is increasingly necessary “to rebuild the relationship between us and wild nature and to do so we need relationship and comparison”, explains the writer, recounting how it was born his new engagement.

Not just bears and wolves, but jackals too. Why did you choose these animals as the protagonists of your new book?
“For the great debate that was around them in the Carso. Here everyone had a different opinion, on what we could define the elusive golden jackal, of which some people did not even know existed while others had made it an obsession with love or hate. I spent months looking for evidence, staying the nights in the Karst listening to the howls, talking to the breeders. I wanted to understand the debate and from here I turned it into a book. Everything stems from research on golden jackal and then it becomes a story for adults and children. There were so many discordant points of view or news on the subject that it intrigued me and prompted me to write about it”.

What is known today about this species present in Italy?
“The golden jackal arrived from the Balkans in 1984 due to various factors, including at the time the decimation of the wolves that are its antagonists. It is a shy animal, which is seen very little, there are even researchers who study it but hardly meet it never. In Italy initially there was little diffusion only in Friuli Venezia-Giulia. Then in 2017 it began to expand and when the pandemic arrived, with highways or railways less used by man, it moved more and more and now it is found in various regions of Italy and there are about 300 specimens”.

What role does the jackal play in your novel?
“We often talk about biodiversity or the wild thinking that all animals are beautiful when they are safe, perhaps on the other side of the zoo bars, just to look at, or in documentaries. But when it comes to really living with animals that sometimes we had forgotten we are no longer used to doing it in this urbanized world.For this reason, through an adventurous story of humans and animals, of love and poaching, with many different perspectives, I have tried to provide points of view on the jackal and on the relationship with the wild, both scientific and emotional gazes. Its role is also to make us think”.

Why is coexistence difficult even with this little-known species?
“In the Trieste and Gorizia Karst there are two dimensions: one is cultural, with the jackal carrying a terrifying narrative legacy, he is never the good guy in the story. From sensationalist articles to rumors he is always seen as negative. The second is that by eating carrion, but also maize and cherries, there have been cases of predation of animals in which responsibility has been uncertain, with some farmers targeting jackals.Being less fascinating than the wolf, with regard to this species it is also born a sort of hatred that leads to a complex coexistence, although there is not much evidence of its possible impacts”.

What can be done to improve coexistence with wild animals?

“Today there is a lot of gut reaction. The relationship with nature is often seen as something to be exploited until it bothers us. This can have various levels, from a possible close encounter to small depredations of chickens in coops. If we fail to redefine our concept of coexistence as correlation and coexistence then we will not find a way out. To be able to do this we must abandon idealisms and aim for concrete practices: do you have farms? You must have sheepdogs. In areas where there are animals wild, from bears to wolves, everyone needs clear indications: knowing that encounters are possible, how and when to behave. We need more radio collars, information. For example on jackals: they are not dangerous for humans, but they could be dangerous for other animals , to be protected with due precautions, which must be disseminated”.

Which of the messages you leave in the novel do you care the most?
“In the book, I do not provide truth or answers. I put on the plate many perspectives that are confronted with a dynamic and evolving reality, or rather our relationship with the natural world and the need to rebuild it. The only message is that to rebuild a relationship, it is really necessary relationship and comparison: hearing all the voices on the field to protect a biodiversity on which our existence depends One thing I liked doing in the book, always without humanizing it, is trying to tell all of this also from the point of view of the jackal: how he sees, how he feels and how he moves, in order to help people think about what the animal perspective might be. Otherwise we really struggle to understand and relate to him.”