ROME (ITALPRESS) – Wolf emergency. Based on national monitoring published in 2022, the species is reported to occupy about 167,000 square kilometers with about 3,500 individuals. From 2017 to 2024, 7 problem individuals were recorded, producing 19 attacks on humans.
More than twenty thousand predation attacks on livestock and even pets. The mayors of the Vicenza area, received today at MASE, denounced important numbers even on their own territory: 193 were the predations in 2024 on livestock and pets (“those on wild animals are not counted”): and the predations are no longer only in the mountains but also in the hills, near population centers. The demand of the area is for a timely response so that the population feels the concrete closeness of the institutions.
The risk is that of abandonment by many breeders and the “desertification” of the area. Proposals were many: “With the Province as a collector and the involvement of MASAF, we will collect the indications of the various municipalities to seek the best solutions that take into account the needs of the population and equally the protection of the species. This is the first step,” Undersecretary Barbaro explained in the meeting today with the mayors of the Vicenza area in the presence of the General Directorate for the Protection of Biodiversity and the Sea of the MASE with Rear Admiral Francesco Tomas.
“With the downgrading of the level of wolf protection-approved by the Bern Convention and today under consideration by EU institutions-Italy will be ready to study an effective management plan for this species. Today’s meeting was important to understand the real problems of the population and biodiversity of the territory,” Barbaro continued. Ispra has already developed 3 distinct and complementary approaches, which comply with both national and EU regulations: categorization of behaviors and possible actions in the case of problematic wolves, including possible removal; identification of significantly higher than average damage thresholds, which could justify more incisive actions, flanked by a clear description of possible direct and indirect measures to be taken in different contexts; and estimation of the number of wolves that can be removed without jeopardizing conservation status.”
-Photo press office Mase-.
(ITALPRESS).
