I'm not afraid of the wolf, an organization committed for over ten years to the conservation of the wolf and the reduction of conflict with human activities, wishes to express concern about the killing of the wolf called Mirco, which occurred in Austria in recent days.
In fact, it was a question of of a specimen from Italy, equipped with a satellite radio collar as part of a scientific project coordinated by the Belluno Dolomites National Park and the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Sassari, The project is part of a monitoring program dedicated to studying the dispersal of young wolves, a biologically crucial phase for understanding their expansion dynamics, colonization of new territories, and genetic connections between populations.
In the last few hours, however, elements have emerged that make this matter extremely worrying. According to what was stated in an interview given to The Dolomites by Professor Marco Apollonio, scientific director of the project, the wolf that was killed was not even the specimen that was the subject of the order issued by the Tyrolean authorities on 2 June last, measure justified by some sightings of a wolf near homes in the municipality of Schlitters.
The radio-collar data show in fact that on that date, Mirco was still in the province of Bolzano, not in Austrian territory.
In the following days, once he entered Tyrol, The Italian researchers had promptly informed the local authorities of his arrival and movements. Data that would show – according to what Prof. Apollonio declared in his interview – how the animal crossed the area above Schlitters during the night hours, around 2 in the morning, then spending the last days in a mountainous area between 1.900 and 2.100 metres above sea level, far from any inhabited centre. If these elements are confirmed, we would be faced with a cull formally authorised on the basis of a presumed specific risk, but carried out on a different individual, who would not appear to have displayed any problematic behaviour.
The matter takes on even more delicate contours considering a further element: Mirco He was equipped with a satellite radio collar and, according to what has emerged, the Austrian authorities had been informed in advance of his arrival as part of the scientific monitoring project. This aspect requires clarification as to whether information shared for scientific and institutional purposes could have been used, directly or indirectly, to locate and cull the very animal that was the subject of the research project. In other words: a wolf is reported near some houses and the killing of it is authorised un wolf, without any certainty that it is the same individual.
Added to this is a damage that is often ignored in public debate. Mirco It was part of a complex, long-term scientific project, built through months of preparation, significant financial investment, safe capture activities, radio collar installation, and subsequent data collection and analysis. His killing not only represents a questionable management incident, but also effectively interrupts a highly valuable scientific research effort, built on expertise, public resources, and cooperation between Italian institutions.
We have been observing with growing concern for some time now how wolf management in Austria is following an extremely aggressive line, characterized by authorized cullings in often controversial circumstances and accompanied by motivations that raise more than one doubt on a technical level. The case of Mirco This risks setting a particularly serious precedent. Not only because an animal involved in an international scientific project was killed, causing concrete damage to a research activity built with time, financial resources, and specialized work, but above all because the impression emerges of a management system increasingly less based on the detailed analysis of individual cases and increasingly oriented towards generalized interventions.
Managing large carnivores is a complex issue. It can also involve difficult decisions, but it must necessarily be based on rigorous criteria, technical evidence, correct identification of the individuals involved and proportionality of the interventions. When a wolf is killed simply because it has been decided that it must be killed un wolf, regardless of the actual identification of the animal responsible, we are no longer faced with serious wildlife management. For this reason, we believe that what happened deserves a clear institutional response.
We ask the Italian authorities, the scientific bodies involved and the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security to formally investigate what happened. and verify any liability, considering that it is an animal included in an Italian research project.
In parallel, We will take legal action and bring the case to the attention of the European Commission so that the correctness of the procedures adopted by the Austrian authorities can be assessed. within the scope of the derogations provided for by European legislation, also with a view to evaluating possible infringement procedures.
If we accept that decisions of this type can be taken without transparency, without technical rigor and without real verification of the assumptions, the risk is that of legitimising an approach in which wildlife management ceases to be a scientific issue and becomes simply a political choice, divorced from any technical expertise.