The third wolf that should have been killed in the province of Bolzano is fortunately safe. The Regional Court of Administrative Justice of Bolzano has in fact accepted the urgent precautionary requests presented by the animal rights associations, temporarily blocking the decree signed on 11 September by the president of the autonomous Province Arno Kompatscher. The provision aimed to allow the killing of the specimen as foreseen by the provincial plans for the year 2026, concentrating the controls and authorizations in the municipal territories of Ultimo and Castelbello-Ciardes.
The legal action was initiated thanks to the common front made up of LEAL, the National Pro Natura Federation, Green Impact ETS, AGR and the National Animal Protection Agency, legally assisted by the lawyer Valentina Stefutti. The suspension will officially remain in force until the collegial discussion scheduled for the council chamber on 14 October, the date on which the judge will also express his opinion on the legitimacy of the culling of the first two specimens previously ordered by the provincial council.
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The reasons for the clash and the reaction of animal rights associations in defense of the protected species
At the root of the Province’s decision were the heavy predations recorded in the mountain pastures of the municipality of Ultimo, where between 15 June and 8 September 26 dead or missing sheep and goats had been documented, a toll that had pushed the local authority to intervene with a hard line. Nonetheless, the TRGA recognized the full existence of the conditions of gravity and urgency, highlighting that the killing of the specimen would have caused irreversible damage before the examination of merit and underlining that the mountain pasture period is now almost over, drastically reducing the risk of new imminent attacks.
Faced with this temporary victory, the leaders of the associations did not hide their satisfaction with the result obtained in the courtrooms. The national presidency of Enpa, which through the voice of Giusy D’Angelo forcefully reiterated the need to turn decisively towards alternative strategies to the physical suppression of predators:
It is an important result because it prevents, in this phase, an irreversible act. The suspension of wolf killing now allows us to bring the issue back to the ground on which it should be addressed from the beginning: that of prevention, science and the protection of wildlife.
The association also recalled that in Italy the wolf remains strictly protected by law 157/92, demanding that exemptions be subordinated to rigorous and concretely demonstrable conditions:
We continue to reiterate a fundamental principle for us: even if a wolf responsible for predation is identified with certainty, the answer cannot be the rifle. The answer must be prevention. While we continue to show great determination in authorizing the killings, what is missing is a real will to implement prevention, which remains largely ignored. Protecting farmed animals and supporting farmers means preventing predation, not killing a wolf after it has occurred. Today we record an important result, but the question remains open. Coexistence is not built through killing. It is built by protecting farmed animals, seriously supporting farmers and applying prevention. This is the path we will continue to defend.
