The wolf is back. And it has returned in impressive numbers that leave no room for doubt. Across the entire national territory, an estimated 3,300 individuals are present, of whom around 950 live in the Alpine regions and 2,400 are distributed throughout the rest of the country. This is the picture that emerges from the monitoring carried out over the past three years by the Istituto superiore per la protezione e la ricerca ambientale (Ispra) on behalf of the ministero della Transizione ecologica. The data collection involved around 3,000 people, including members of national parks, regional and provincial bodies, universities and museums, units of the Carabinieri forestali, and a large proportion of volunteers — roughly half of the total — from various national and local environmental and animal welfare associations spread across the whole of Italy.

The wolf is a strictly protected species under international legislation (Habitat Directive EEC 1993/43, Bern Convention) and national legislation (l. 157/92, DPR 357/97), and this protection has certainly contributed significantly to the demographic and geographic recovery recorded in recent decades. Yet the presence of the large predator in Italy had never been adequately documented at a national scale, and the scientifically reliable data gathered through the monitoring will be able to guide conflict-mitigation measures with human activities, promoting human-wolf coexistence.

The wolf, an ecologically important presence

We discussed the return of the wolf and the figures relating to its presence in Italy with Mauro Belardi, biologist, environmental sustainability expert and president of the cooperative Eliante. "The data collected are unquestionably positive and show that the species is essentially out of danger in our country. I say 'essentially' for two reasons. The first is that the recolonisation process has not yet been completed everywhere — for example in some lowland areas and in the central Alps. The second is that around 300 wolves die from non-natural causes in Italy each year (poaching, accidents). We are talking about 10 per cent of the population, which is not negligible. In any case, given the high density of ungulates (above all wild boar, roe deer and red deer), but also of other species such as coypu, the increase in wolves is decidedly good news for environmental balance too. I would point out, however, that a great many headlines and comments published after the results were released are incorrect. There has been no doubling, let alone exponential growth, in wolf numbers.

It is worth noting first of all that this is the first monitoring exercise carried out using standard methods in many years, and so there is no previous benchmark for comparison. Before this data we had only estimates, and even this year's figures are partly derived from counts conducted previously. In any case, what we are seeing is above all a territorial expansion into areas where the wolf had not yet returned, and only very secondarily an increase in density. There is nothing strange here, nor any cause for alarm. The wolf is growing in number primarily because there is an abundance of available prey. Other factors are secondary, such as the abandonment of certain territories, legal protection, protected areas, and so on," Belardi explains.

The wolf in Italy, the debate is under way

What are the problems that may arise with the return of the wolf to Italian territory? "Its presence creates problems for livestock farming, and that is a fact. Equipping oneself to protect one's animals is certainly possible, but it represents a difficulty and a cost. As wolf numbers grow, the problem gradually spreads to areas where this predator has become established but was not previously present. Nothing changes for farmers working in areas where it was already present, because these are territorial animals and each pack occupies a defined territory with a limited number of individuals. A pack is normally capable of hunting even large wild prey and, contrary to what one might think, it is solitary individuals that often cause problems for farmed animals," replies Mauro Belardi.

"What will be more problematic, in my view, will be the relationship with human populations, including in lowland areas and inhabited zones, where people are not accustomed to the presence of the species and fear may grow. Think, for example, of the common habit of letting one's dog roam free when going for a walk in the countryside. This creates serious problems for ecosystems and is illegal, yet it is very widespread.

Cases of wolves preying on domestic dogs will certainly increase, while still remaining infrequent. The likelihood of contact or incidents involving humans will also rise, remaining in every case an improbable rarity, but there will undoubtedly be problems, whether real or perceived as such. A wolf that repeatedly and persistently frequents a highly urbanised environment (a city, for instance) is certainly neither normal nor desirable, and will need to be managed in some way."

The problem of hybridisation

Wolves that look like dogs? Or dogs that become wolves through hybridisation deliberately engineered by unscrupulous breeders? The problem of hybridisation is more relevant than ever, particularly in light of the repopulation of the large predator across our territory and its approaching human settlements and urban areas frequented, of course, by the domestic dog. "Wolf-dog hybridisation (and let us remember that they are the same species) has been occurring for millennia and has not prevented the survival of the wolf as a wild species. It should be noted that the more likely scenario involves domestic dog genes entering a wolf group. Less common is the reverse situation, in which a domestic dog gives birth to hybrid cubs fathered by a wolf," says Belardi.

"Dogs possess certain characteristics that are the product of artificial selection, and it is better that these do not spread among wolves. And certainly the phenomenon of hybridisation increases as wolf numbers grow in urbanised areas. At present, the scientific literature rules out that hybrids (a concept for which some definitional issues still remain) display behaviours different from those of ordinary wolves — they are neither more confident nor more dangerous. Preventing hybridisation is nonetheless important to safeguard the wild species. The first enormous underlying problem, however, is canine straying, with something like 900,000 ownerless stray dogs in Italy. The problem is not only these clearly stray animals, but also the vast number of intermediate situations that overlap with them.

We are talking, in this case, about animals that have an owner but are in practice free to roam: farm dogs, those that live at mountain refuges, the animals kept by livestock farmers themselves — but also ordinary four-legged companions belonging to people who let them run free thinking they are doing them good. The scientific data are very clear: dogs kill tens of thousands of wild animals every year and can mate with wolves. Both of these things can happen without the owners ever realising it. Dogs out in nature must therefore be kept on a lead, and at night they must be kept indoors or in enclosures. The only exceptions are working dogs, such as livestock guardian dogs. Once the damage is done, little can be done. The option of removing hybrid wolves has its supporters and its opponents, even among experts, but with such a vast source of stray dogs, it is almost certainly an intervention that is likely to prove futile in terms of results," the expert concludes.

The problem of dogs left free to roam on their own — in towns, in the countryside, on hillsides, on beaches — has been debated and addressed on numerous occasions by the experts I have interviewed. It is not only a matter of the potential danger to dogs that are regularly walked on a lead and suddenly find themselves attacked by a free-roaming and possibly aggressive dog. But also during walks, hikes and day trips, the absence of a lead and collar — and therefore of the necessary control on the part of the owner — constitutes one of the gravest threats to the health of the environment and the ecosystem. Perhaps more than the fear of the large predator and its attacks, what ought to be condemned is the behaviour of the inconsiderate neighbour or the uncivil hiker who wanders around with one or more dogs running free and uncontrolled. But that is another story…