• Four wolves died from poisoning near Levico Terme, in Valsugana.
• Environmental and animal rights organisations accuse the Province of Trento of failing to implement adequate wildlife protection policies.
• At European level, the debate over downgrading the wolf from a "strictly protected" to a merely "protected" species is reopening.

First four wolves, found dead from poisoning near Levico Terme. Now a fox, too, in the woods of Gambor, near Arco. Not to mention, of course, the indiscriminate killings of bears that have been widely discussed in recent months. Too many clues, pointing with reasonable certainty to the conclusion that wildlife management strategies and environmental safety in Trentino are riddled with more than a few flaws. Environmental organisations such as Io non ho paura del lupo, Wwf del Trentino, Enpa del Trentino and Lipu sezione Trento share this view and, in response to the killing of the four wolves — whose bodies were found lifeless on 1 February — have spoken bluntly of "an illegal act that not only endangers biodiversity, but also compromises the quality and safety of local ecosystems".

Poisoning, in fact, not only causes the death of the animals directly targeted — it also poses a threat to the entire food chain and to public health, since the dispersal of toxic substances into the environment can have repercussions on other animal species, both domestic and wild, as well as on human beings. In the days preceding their deaths, the wolves had been spotted roaming near the cycle path along the Brenta river, but no problems involving humans had been reported.

Beyond the four wolves: gaps in environmental management

The organisations had promptly called on the mayors of the municipalities involved and on the Autonomous Province of Trento to take a clear public stance. Assessore Roberto Failoni did indeed, in an interview with Il Dolomiti, condemn the incident, stressing that "poaching is illegal and has no place in communities that consider themselves civilised. Moreover, poison-based poaching is extremely dangerous, as it can indiscriminately affect numerous wild and domestic species".

A statement that, however, falls short of what the organisations are demanding. They speak instead of structural shortcomings in the management of environmental remediation: to date, they point out, the Province of Trento — unlike other Alpine regions — has no anti-poison dog units, "modern and indispensable tools for precisely locating and removing any baits or toxic residues. The failure to establish these operational units represents a very serious gap that must be filled as a matter of the utmost urgency".

wwfitalia @WWFitalia

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Four wolves🐺 were killed in Valsugana. They were probably poisoned.

An event born of the climate of hatred that is targeting this species. As WWF we are now calling for concrete action👇
wwf.it/pandanews/anim…

♥ 65💬 6 4 feb 2025 · Apri su X →

It is also essential, according to the organisations, to invest in awareness-raising and training campaigns aimed at the local population to promote greater awareness of the importance of coexisting with wildlife — combined with a strengthening of monitoring and control activities — which can help mitigate human-animal conflict and prevent acts of poaching or poisoning.

The battle against the wolf's downgrading

Just last December, the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention voted in favour of downgrading the wolf's protection status, moving the species from "strictly protected" to merely "protected" — a decision that certainly has no direct link to what happened to the wolves in Trentino, but which has undoubtedly had some influence on perceptions of how important it is to protect the species.

For this very reason, 77 international organisations — including Trentino-based Io non ho paura del lupo — have signed an open letter calling for the downgrading to be annulled within one month, by 2 March. According to animal welfare experts, the decision lacks a solid scientific basis and was adopted without an adequate independent scientific review; on the contrary, numerous scientific studies and the European academic community have spoken out against this downgrading, highlighting the risks to ecosystems and biodiversity. The wolf, they explain, "is a keystone apex species fundamental to European ecosystems. Its protection is a symbol of our commitment to nature conservation and to science as the foundation of environmental decision-making".