The story comes directly from one of the best-known voices in Italian journalism, Michele Serra, who in his newsletter Okay Boomer published on The Post shared the death of his dog Osso, who disappeared in the Piacenza Apennines, where the writer has lived for years. The animal, adopted after being found in critical condition in the woods in 2020, was killed by a pack of wolves during an outing in the woods near his home.
Serra said that the dog, free to move around his home in Val Tidone, never returned after going away for a brief exploration. The discovery of his fate transformed a private episode into a public reflection, spread through his online editorial space. The bond between the writer and his dog had also become narrative material over time: Osso was already the protagonist of one of his books, a sign of a relationship built on years of shared life between home, woods and controlled freedom.
The relationship with the wolf and the theme of coexistence
In his words, Serra never reduced the theme to a simple contrast. He recalled how the presence of the Apennine wolf is the result of an important environmental recovery, today estimated at around 3,300 specimens according to the data cited by ISPRA. An ecological success which, however, according to the journalist, brings with it new complexities in land management.
The writer explained that he is not against the presence of the predator, but that he believes it is necessary to question the carrying capacity of mountain territories, especially where domestic animals, livestock and wildlife coexist. His reflection arises from pain, but extends to a broader problem: the coexistence between human activities and protected wildlife. In fact, in some areas of the Apennines, episodes of predation on dogs and farm animals have been reported, with dynamics that experts describe as part of the natural balance between species. Precisely this balance, according to Serra, should be managed with clear tools, avoiding drifts of abandonment or uncontrolled reactions. Serra reflects:
I have lived in this remote and depopulated valley for twenty years. My sadness today is great. Before me, my neighbors experienced it, who lost a sheepdog to wolves, and the farmers who saw their donkeys, foals and sheep torn to pieces. The wolf today lives everywhere in our country. It is an extraordinary case of repopulation success. But it seems to me that his numbers are getting out of hand. Either politics decides to do something or it will become war. And war, as demonstrated by the 18 wolves poisoned in Abruzzo in a cowardly manner, is the worst solution.
The response to Michela Serra that we should all read
The central point raised concerns the management of the presence of the wolf, especially after its regulatory downgrading from “strictly protected” to “protected” species. A change which, according to several observers, could influence protection and control policies. Serra posed a direct question: to what extent can a mountain area support this presence without compromising local safety and activities?
But the most significant response, which should make us all reflect, came from Daniele Ecotti, one of the founders of the association “I’m not afraid of the wolf”, of which he is president. In a long letter addressed to Serra he touched on several points, which may be uncomfortable but we cannot ignore:
I too, for years, thought that living in the woods meant being able to give my dogs freedom. My dogs have always lived at home with us. But during the day they could go out, go to the fields, meadows, woods even independently. Sometimes their raids lasted hours. I wasn’t worried. I thought that freedom was part of the gift I could give them. Then I started to see things differently. I realized that there isn’t just open spaces and woods out there. There are snares, poisonous morsels, roads, hunters, other dogs, wild animals, dangers you don’t control. I started wondering how I would feel if one day one of my dogs didn’t come back. And I also noticed something that we often dismiss: our dogs are still predators. Free to roam they can disturb, chase, injure and put wildlife in difficulty. They are not neutral presences. And then there are the wolves. A dog can be a competitor, an intruder, sometimes even a companion, but other times also a prey. This is difficult to accept emotionally, but ecologically it is not an anomaly. The wolf is a wolf.
Ecotti continues by underlining a lightness into which many fall:
The truth, painful but necessary to say, is that Osso was exposed to a risk that could have been avoided. A dog left free and uncontrolled, especially at dusk or at night, in an area of stable wolf presence, is exposed to risks.
Finally, he concludes like this:
You had to bury Osso, and this pain deserves respect. But precisely because that pain is real, I ask you not to let it become a shortcut. Let’s use it, if anything, to ask for more responsibility: more government, more prevention, more presence, more knowledge. Only in this way can we continue to live up here: with the breeders, with the dogs, with the wolves.
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