Kick-Off Meeting LIFE WILD WOLF in Rome, Italy

The Carabinieri Forestali were hosting the kick off meeting of the LIFE WILD WOLF project “Concrete actions for maintaining wolves wild in anthropogenic landscapes of Europe” on 30-31th of January. The project, co-funded within the EU LIFE programme, enjoys a multidiscplinary team of 18 partners, including 7 Universities or research institutions, national and local management authorities and NGOs from the environmental and hunting areas of interest from 8 EU countries

The project’s objective is to develop a solid technical baseline, developing operating protocols that will be tested and assessed for efficacy and efficiency. The ultimate goal is to provide a significant contribution to the most adequate management of critical situations where wildlife approach humans in urban and peri-urban areas.

The partnership is coordinated by the Istituto di Ecologia Applicata of Rome (Italy), and NGO that promotes management practices based on scientific evidence.

The project will be implemented in rural, urban and peri-urban areas of 8 EU countries (Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, The Czech Republic, Slovenia and Sweden), involving 7 out of the 9 European wolf populations. The project will last almost 5 years with a total budget of 7,028,148€ (EU contribution: 5,265,454€). Wildlife presence close to human settlements is a growing phenomenon in many EU countries and often leads to critical situation of perceived or real danger. Few EU countries are prepared to tackle such situations with clear and tested protocols and the LIFE WILD WOLF project aims at developing and testing such protocols on the basis of the largest possible number of cases.

“The project will be focusing on wolf, which populations are on the general increase in Europe, but many of the actions implemented could be applied to other contexts and with other wildlife species. This is what makes the project of remarkable value at this time” says Valeria Salvatori, the project responsible for Istituto di Ecologia Applicata “the international partnerschip will allow the analysis of a large number of cases and to share experiences and best practices”.

In Italy the project will directly involve Carabinieri Forestali, the Maiella National Park and the University of Turin. These entities all have many years of experience in wolf monitoring, management and conservation.

“We are committed in providing a significant support while dealing with wildlife habituated to human presence, which should be closely monitored. It is of paramount importance that wildlife would not loose its ecological role by gaining confidence with human environment” says Luciano di Martino, director of Maiella National Park. The park staff has already provided support to other national and regional governing bodies for tackling critical situations where wolves were found in urban areas. We are sure that an international effort will support us in defining the best approach, without having to rely on personal experience of few cases.

The project offers a unique opportunity to develop and implement technical capacities for early intervention. The kick-off meeting will help to set up new intervention teams and thus support the responsible local authorities in the future.