PRODUCTIONS: MAN'S FRIEND

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L.Boitani, M.Visalberghi, G.Pancaldi, A.D'Onofrio

SD Cinematografica

30'

16 mm

This is the little known story of the double personality that often exists in domestic dogs. Just as Dr. Jekyll was transformed into Mr. Hyde, in the same way man's most faithful friend often changes, at night, into a ferocious deliquent, roaming through the countryside attacking chickens and herds of sheep.
The next morning the dog is the usual affectionate, overgrown puppy it always was.
This is the first step down a road leading slowly towards the backup of the animal's alliance with man and a return to the wild life of its ancestor, the wolf.
Today in Italy feral dogs number more than a million and those who have gone back to the wild are almost 100,000. This phenomenon has reached alarming proportions and even threatens the survival of the last wolves remaining in Italy, estimated to be no more than 200 to 250 specimen.
Bands of stray dogs are numerous in Central Italy and threaten to make the wolf extinct. It may be the domestic dog that deals the final blow to its ancestor.
Suddenly rearing up, kicking, biting and chasing each other, the stallions of the Camargue flight fro possession of the harem. "Wild Side Of Europe" filmed daily life of one of the last groups of wild horses still existent in the world. We discovered how little we still know about the natural behavior of an animal that has lived close to us for so long.