In the heart of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, a real silent and disturbing massacre is taking place. The number of wolves found dead has in fact risen to 18 specimens in a few days, a chilling toll. After the first discovery of ten lifeless animals between Pescasseroli and Alfedena (and the decapitation of two specimens in Tuscany), the searches never stopped.
The searches, conducted with the support of anti-poison dogs and the Forestry Carabinieri, led to the discovery of new outbreaks: three more wolves in Pescasseroli, four in Bisegna together with foxes and a buzzard, and a further specimen in Barrea. A very serious picture that leaves little doubt: the main suspicion is that of widespread poisoning, an illegal practice that indiscriminately affects wildlife and the environment.
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The suspected poison and an ecosystem under attack
The presence of multiple dead species in the same points reinforces the hypothesis of poisoned bait, prohibited by law but still used in poaching. This is not just a crime against animals: the risk also extends to public health and the balance of ecosystems. The WWF speaks openly of a “cowardly and criminal act”, underlining how targeting a symbolic species like the wolf means undermining a natural heritage built over decades of protection. It is not only the wolf that is threatened: the Marsican brown bear also lives in the same area, one of the rarest species in Europe, with a population reduced to a few dozen individuals.
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The pain of the Park: “A dramatic situation”
The words of the bodies that manage the protected area convey the emotional and institutional dimension of the crisis. There is talk of “bewilderment, disbelief and pain”, while work continues in the field to collect evidence and stop what appears to be an evolving environmental emergency. Each new discovery updates an accounting that no one would like to write anymore. The fear is that the phenomenon is more widespread than what has emerged so far, with other animals yet to be identified.
The letter to Mattarella: “These are not isolated cases”
The affair has crossed regional borders, turning into a national case. The association I am not afraid of the wolf sent a letter to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella asking for a “authoritative intervention“. The document denounces an increasingly hostile climate towards wildlife, where episodes like those in Abruzzo or Tuscany – with wolves killed and exposed in public places – are not isolated cases, but signs of cultural and social deterioration.
According to the association, the problem is also aggravated by the weakened perception of wolf protection, thanks to the recent European debate on the level of protection of the species. A context that risks legitimizing illegal behavior.
“The protection of nature – concludes the letter – is not an obstacle to development, but a constitutional, civic and cultural duty”.
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Pressure on the Government and request for an urgent plan
At the same time, several associations wrote to the minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin asking for an extraordinary protection plan. The data speaks clearly: in recent years around 2000 wolves have been found dead in Italy, often due to human activities. The requests are precise: strengthen controls, combat poaching, prevent the use of poisons and guarantee the application of European regulations on biodiversity. The risk, they underline, is that inaction could also lead to legal liability, especially in light of the new European directives on environmental protection.
An open wound in the relationship between man and nature
What emerges is the signal of a deep fracture between part of society and its natural heritage. Destroying wildlife, the associations warn, means compromising not only the balance of ecosystems, but also the civil quality of the country. In one of the symbolic places of conservation in Italy, the massacre of wolves thus becomes an alarm bell: an urgent request for collective responsibility, before the silence of nature becomes irreversible.
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