15a Management change

Biology

Need to change

The wolf population in Italy has grown from around a hundred individuals 50 years ago to more than 3,500, according to recent estimas of ISPRA of 2024.
For many, the species has gone from being a pest to a symbol of a wild and hidden nature, to be respected and loved, perhaps even idolized by someone. For others, who had never encountered the wolf before, it has become the specter of ancient fears, the castle rustler, the bloodthirsty killer of foals and lambs

Perhaps we need to rethink the image of the wolf and give it its proper place as a species among species, without de facto imposing it, but rather building social consensus for its conservation, not for ethical or pasionate reasons, but for its ecological value.

It’s no longer time for extremists from both sides to clash over the wolf’s existence; we need to restore the image of the wolf to its true semblance, without demonizing or idolizing it.

And for this to happen, a species management policy must be implemented that takes into account all categories of people, the “stakeholders” who may be affected by its presence.

From hikers who love hearing the wolf’s cry along the trails, to wildlife experts who consider the wolf a factor in regulating wild ungulate populations, to farmers for their livelihood.

 

History

From the risk of extinction to the management problem

The history of the wolf in Italy has had an incredible turn

When Operation San Francesco began in the 1970s to recover the species, the Italian wolf populations was truly on the brink of extiction.

For twenty years, it occasionally provided unexpected surprises…the first wolves in Garfagnana, Liguria, the Cuneo Area, and from there to France’s Mercantour region…then a succession of territorial reconquests followed, culminating in its expansion into the Alps, and beyond, with significant expansions year after year.
The story of the wolf’s return has not been accompanied by adequate population management.

The primaty threat to the wolf’s survival is the problem of roaming dogs and anthropogenic hybridization of wolves and dogs, which puts the very genetic heritage of the species at risk. This now raises fears not of the wolf’s physical extinction in Italy, but of its genetic extinction, if the introgression of the canine genome, generation after generation, were to completely replace that of the wolf.
The phenomenon of hybridization is still understudied, and especially the rate of hybridization is insufficiently understood.

Furthemore, as highlilighted by a study Sapienza University of Rome involving dozens of scholars, although everyone agrees that anthropogenic hybridization is a threat to the species, there is still no consensus among experts on how it should be managed; for example, wheter hybrids should be permanently removed from the wild population or sterilizied and then released.
The very definition of a threshold beyond which an individual can be defined as a “hybrid is still a matter of debate.

To avoid a second and inevitable extiction, it os now urgent to define an effective management strategy

 

Curiosity

In the rest of Europe

By the second half of the last century, the wolf had disappeared from much of Western Europe, except for the Iberian Peninsula and mainland Italy.
In Great Britain and Ireland, the wolf has already extinct by the eighteenth century.

Toward the end of twentieth century, starting from Italy, it recolonized eastern and southern France, Switzerland and Austria, while from Eastern Europe, the Balkan Peninsula and Russia, wolves spread as far as Germany, Poland, Netherlands and the Scandinavian Peninsula

There are currently approximately 17,000 wolves in Europe, of which 13,000-14,000 are in the European Union, diveded into the following eight populations: Scandinavian, Finnish, Baltic, Central European, Carphatian, Dinar-Balkan, Alpine, Italian and Iberian.
The Sierra Morena population recently became extinct in Spain.

The recolonization of the wolf has not always been greeted with positive interest; in fact, in countries beyond the Alps, the first settlers were often killed not only thorough poaching but also legally.
In the European Community, the wolf is strictly protected by the Habitats Directive and the Bern Convention

In Italy the Wolf is protected by national laws, directives of the European community,  such as the  92/43 / CEE, called “Habitat”, and international conventions such as CITES, making the species particularly protected on our territory; in other countries, things are different. In most Eastern Europe countries it is considered a huntable species; in some countries, whether in the East or in Greece or Spain, the wolf is not completely protected, while others, like France and Finland, adhere to European regulations but have asked for exemptions regarding the conservation.

Concerning the Habitat Directive, it is indeed possible for EU member countries to make a  derogation request of the Directive, allowing them thus to kill or capture specimens of species of interest for conservation, such as wolves, by motivating research or educational reasons or else significant public interest (health, safety, economy).

This does not mean that one can hunt unruly; on the contrary everything should be well motivated, carried out by assigned staff and respecting in any case certain maximum thresholds of specimens that can be withdrawn in order not to endanger or cause harm to the population of the species affected by the derogation measure.

As for the wolf, however, some studies have shown that the culling of some specimens, deconstructing the pack and causing the dispersion of the survivors, may bring negative effects, such as an increase in predation on animal farms.

Prevention
Side by side
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