"From 2010 to today in Veneto 19 lupi they were killed: run over, victims of poaching or poisoned morsels: far too many since we are talking about an overprotected species. And it could be the tip of the iceberg ”. This is what he declares Andrea Zanoni commenting on the data, obtained with two accesses to the documents, of the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of the Venezie (Izsve). "I had asked for a report together with the necropsy report on the specimen shot dead in Lessinia in September 2018 near Roveré Veronese. Now, with the consent of the Judicial Authority, I have obtained the documentation. I was shocked to read it, as well as to see the photos: 28 buckshot were extracted from the body of the poor animal, a beautiful male of 36 and a half kilos.
Two shots, one on the neck and the other on the back end coming from two different directions confirming the intention to kill him. He certainly hadn't been mistaken for a fox or a hare! Moreover, six millimeters diameter buckshot were used: with a diameter of this kind no wild animal that can be killed by the hunting calendar is hunted, those used are much smaller. So it was a premeditated wolf hunt with cartridges suitable for the purpose ". The province with the most dead specimens is Treviso, 7, followed by Vicenza and Verona with 5 and Belluno 2. “19 are really many, it is as if three packs have been eliminated and in any case we are only talking about the confirmed killings, it could be the tip of the iceberg and the numbers could be much higher.
We do not know the causes of all: certainly in four cases, Resana, Vittorio Veneto, Pederobba and Dolcè, these are road accidents; the latter occurred in mid-May and has not yet been analyzed by Izsve. At least three, however, the confirmed episodes of poaching: Roveré Veronese in 2018, Valdobbiadene and Borso del Grappa last year. But it could be more. With a second access to the documents, which I am awaiting, I asked the Zooprophylactic Institute for the causes of death of each individual case. These episodes - adds Zanoni - are also the result of the climate caused by some majority councilors particularly close to the requests of the most extremist lobby in the hunting world, which in the previous legislature even presented bills to ask to be able to kill wolves. Regardless of the protection at the state, community and international level and the relative regulations, which envisage as many as 22 wolf management and damage control measures to be adopted before reaching the slaughter.
But instead of taking serious action on prevention, it is easier to make harmful propaganda. “There was a European initiative, the Wolfalps project, which guaranteed resources for the purchase of electrified fences and shepherd dogs and was the most effective solution, as also reiterated by some Italian breeders who had seen the elimination of predations - underlines the representative PD - Unfortunately, the council moved late, confirming its absence on the programming front and planning and hoping, indeed, a return to the slaughter. Veneto is becoming more and more a land of poaching, the National Plan to combat this phenomenon approved by the State Regions Conference. And not only for migratory birds, but also for super-protected species like the wolf. I remember that, as required by law, whoever shoots wolves risks arrest from two to eight months ”.