A new decree from the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, issued yesterday, authorizes the culling of a wolf in the municipalities of Ultimo and Castelbello-Ciardes. This is the third cull ordered in South Tyrol in 2026. "I'm Not Afraid of the Wolf" APS: "We cannot address conflicts with livestock farming through a series of random culls. We need to understand which prevention measures have been adopted, concretely evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions, and clarify the technical and procedural process followed to authorize them."
The Autonomous Province of Bolzano has authorized the culling of another wolf in South Tyrol. The measure, signed on September 11, 2026, concerns the municipalities of Ultimo and Castelbello-Ciardes and represents the third cull authorized by the Province in 2026. The decision is based on predation that occurred in recent months on several mountain pastures in the municipality of Ultimo, where, between June 15 and September 8, a total of 22 sheep and four goats were recorded dead or missing.
"We are well aware of the difficulties the presence of wolves can cause for those who farm in the mountains, and we have never denied them," states Io non ho paura del lupo APS. "For 10 years, we have been working directly with farmers to find concrete solutions. But culling cannot become an automatic response to predation without first implementing the necessary preventative measures, as required by the regulatory framework and national and EU technical guidelines."
The new decree, in fact, does not describe specific prevention measures adopted in the affected pastures, such as electric fences, night shelters, or guard dogs. The same provision states that the animals are raised mainly on free-range pastures and are subjected to non-continuous checks, with a frequency varying from daily to several times a week.
"The conditions of mountain pastures can certainly make animal protection more complex, but for this very reason it is necessary to evaluate on a case-by-case basis which tools are concretely applicable and which have actually been used."
The decree effectively authorizes the killing of any wolf present in a vast area, which includes the municipalities of Ultimo and Castelbello-Ciardes, for a total surface area of over 260 square kilometers, despite the incidents cited in the provision referring to specific mountain pastures in the municipality of Ultimo.
"It means authorizing the killing of a wolf essentially at random, with no guarantee that it's the animal involved in the predations. Killing wolves randomly doesn't solve farmers' problems and can't be passed off as a management strategy: it's a purely ideological choice. This is demonstrated by what happened in Marebbe, where after the first kill, predation continued and the Province authorized and carried out a second cull."
"This isn't a debate between those who want to protect wolves and those who want to protect farmers. The issue is understanding which interventions actually work to reduce predation. If, after every series of attacks, the response is to randomly cull a wolf, without equally significant investment in prevention and without verifying the results achieved, we are simply paving the way for a failed policy."
Furthermore, doubts remain regarding the technical and procedural process followed to adopt these measures. In recent days, the association formally wrote to ISPRA requesting clarification on the procedure followed for previous authorized culls in South Tyrol and, in particular, on the possibility that a technical opinion formulated in general terms can be used to support subsequent measures referring to different incidents, territories, and circumstances, without a new, specific technical investigation on each individual case.
"This is a point we believe needs clarification. When authorizing the removal of an animal belonging to a species subject to a specific protection and management regime, the assessment of the conditions should not result in a prior authorization valid without distinction for future situations."
What's especially concerning is the political and ideological management of wolves that reduces a complex issue to a series of random culls, rather than being based on scientific knowledge, prevention, and verification of the effectiveness of interventions. Wildlife management should be guided by data, evidence, and concrete objectives, not by the political need to flex its muscles at every new predation. Because culling a wolf may be simple; demonstrating that that cull actually helps reduce conflict is another matter entirely.