Eighteen wolves have been found dead in an Italian national park within a week, in an apparent series of poisonings described by conservationists as the most serious crimes against wildlife in Italy in a decade.
Criminal investigation launched
Authorities of the national park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise confirmed that eight wolves were discovered dead in recent days across three different areas of the vast park, adding to the ten carcasses found last week. Three dead foxes and a buzzard were also discovered.
“The disappointment blends with despair … It’s a pain that ranges from profound suffering to disbelief,” the national park’s authorities said in a statement. “We hope that we don’t have to deal with further bad news. We repeat once again that whatever the motivation, illegality and crime cannot be justified in any way.”
A criminal investigation began last week after suspected poisoned bait was found by park rangers near five dead wolves in the Alfedena area, leading to suspicions that five other wolves found in Pescasseroli died in the same way. Tests are being conducted to determine the cause of death, although park authorities noted that the simultaneous deaths of other animal species strongly indicate deliberate poisoning.
Threat to endangered species
The situation is especially worrying given the presence of the Marsican bear, a critically endangered subspecies of the brown bear, which roams the Apennine mountains of the national park. Luciano D’Angelo, the prosecutor leading the investigation, told Corriere della Sera: “Bears and wolves are symbols of this area and we do not take their killings lightly. Initial investigations tell us it was poison, but we’ll know later exactly what it was.”
The Italian unit of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) described the suspected wolf killings as the “most serious crimes against wildlife of the last 10 years” and condemned “an unacceptable criminal trend in a civilised country.” The organisation stated: “We’ve reached 18 [wolves] illegally killed within just a few days. This continued massacre strikes at the heart of our natural heritage. Spreading poison to target an iconic species like the wolf is a cowardly and criminal act against biodiversity and an attack on public safety – it’s 2026 and these acts cannot go unpunished.”
Context of wolf protection
WWF Italy partly blames the deaths on the European Union’s decision last year to downgrade the wolf’s status from “strictly protected” to “protected,” a move aimed at allowing easier culling and management of growing populations. The downgrade followed pressure from farmers due to increased attacks on livestock and was strongly backed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after a wolf killed her family pony, Dolly. There are an estimated 20,000 wild wolves across EU countries, with the majority in Italy, followed by Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, and Spain.
In Italy, hunting wolves was once actively encouraged when they were classified as “harmful pests.” However, in the 1970s, when their population neared extinction, the Italian government passed a law granting them official protection and banning wolf hunting.
