A specific request
A request that starts from the European Parliament but which was born in South Tyrol, that of MEP Herbert Dorfmann, supported by his colleague from Bolzano Matteo Gazzini (Lega) and many other MEPs, in which the Ministers of Environment and Agriculture are officially asked to support, for the Italian government, the proposed amendment to change the status of wolf conservation in the Bern Convention, in consideration of the significant increase in the populations of the species at European level and of the impact, in particular on breeding activity, common in many mountain areas of the European Union.
Large carnivores
The note highlights how the uncontrolled increase of these large carnivores, combined with climate change and economic crises, causes now unsustainable repercussions for farmers and breeders, who moreover play a very important role in the conservation of mountain landscapes and in safeguarding biodiversity in areas remote. The increase in the wolf population, combined with the impracticability of protective measures in complex and sparsely populated topographical areas, is in fact leading to the gradual abandonment of pastures. All this also risks affecting the activity of the tourism sector in areas where the population depends on this source of income.
Risk of extinction
"Modifying the protection status of the wolf, with respect to a species that is constantly increasing and no longer at risk of extinction, is a logical consequence of the positive evolution that the species has had in terms of conservation - says MEP Matteo Gazzini, who recently took over in Brussels for the northeastern district – this absolutely cannot and must not be seen as a strategic way to be able to shoot wolves, whose protection of the populations is always and in any case guaranteed by national and European legislation. Instead, it is necessary to allow the Member States and local authorities to be able to intervene adequately and effectively in order to protect the sectors most affected". Colleague Massimo Casanova, co-signatory of the request, also expresses the need to intervene urgently in southern Italy as well.
Genetic pollution
“The excess of protection from which the non-application of concrete interventions follows is not only creating problems for breeders but is paradoxically turning against the wolf itself, just think of the genetic pollution caused by hybridization with the domestic dog or the spread of unseemly and dangerous private initiatives such as the use of poisoned baits. The time of not doing does not lead to anything good, now common sense, speed and communion of intent are needed”.