The I'm Not Afraid of the Wolf Association: "If a wolf exhibits aggressive behavior toward people, rapid intervention is necessary, including culling. But a single case is not representative of the normal behavior of the species."
The incidents that have occurred in recent weeks in Noicattaro, in the province of Bari, must be taken very seriously: when there is a suspicion that a wolf has developed confident or aggressive behavior toward people, safety comes first. But precisely because the situation is serious, it is equally important to avoid confusion and misinformation, and to base technical actions on reliable information and verified data.
At this point, it is important to distinguish two different elements, which have often been superimposed in recent reports: the attacks on children and the documented presence of one or more wolves in the area.
On August 7, the Prefecture of Bari, referring to the August 4 incident in which two minors were injured, officially spoke of an attack by a wild animal. At the same time, images documenting the presence of an animal identified as a wolf were collected in the Noicattaro area, and monitoring activities were initiated.
Just because a wolf is present in the area, however, does not automatically mean it is the same animal responsible for the attacks. These are two separate issues: on the one hand, it is necessary to manage a wolf that, based on observations, appears to be a frequent frequenter of the area's agricultural and urban areas; on the other, it is necessary to establish through investigations which animal actually attacked the people and whether the various incidents are attributable to the same individual.
On August 14, the Puglia Region authorized the capture of the wolf sighted and monitored in the area, based on a favorable opinion from ISPRA. However, the Region also clarified that the area also hosts numerous stray dogs and free-roaming domestic dogs, and that genetic testing is necessary to help definitively identify the animal involved in the attacks. As of August 20, 2026, the official publicly available sources we consulted have not yet published the final results of these analyses.
In other words, the presence of a wolf in Noicattaro is a documented fact; however, attributing the reported attacks to that same individual is something that, to the extent possible, remains to be verified.
The second incident, which occurred on August 15th and injured another child, was immediately attributed by most media to the "Noicattaro wolf." However, investigations into the animal's identity remain crucial. The same is true for the numerous subsequent sightings reported in the Bari area.
This wouldn't be the first time a wolf's aggressive behavior toward humans has been documented in Italy. ISPRA (Italian National Institute of Wildlife Research) documented seven individuals responsible for a total of 19 attacks on humans between 2017 and 2024. These are therefore possible events that must be managed seriously, but they remain rare and isolated and do not represent the normal behavior of several thousand wolves present in our country.
When these behaviors appear, it's also crucial to understand their causes. Accessible waste, food left outside, deliberate feeding by wildlife, or other human-related food sources can contribute to the loss of natural wariness. Therefore, management must also include the control and removal of these attractants, monitoring, and providing accurate information to the population.
I'm Not Afraid of the Wolf APS – an association committed to wolf conservation and coexistence in Italy for over a decade – therefore calls on the institutions to intervene as quickly as possible, but also to ensure maximum transparency in their investigations.
It's important to make public, as soon as they become available, the results of genetic analyses and the information needed to establish which incidents are actually attributable to a wolf and whether they are linked to the same individual. However, greater accountability is also needed on the part of the media: these days, every new sighting risks automatically becoming a "wolf attack," even when there's no evidence to identify the animal. This doesn't improve safety; it only increases fear.
Coexistence with wolves is not achieved by denying problems or polarizing conflict. On the contrary, it means quickly recognizing real problems and intervening decisively when necessary, without turning the rare anomalous behavior of a single animal into a judgment on an entire species.
In Noicattaro today, swift interventions, equally rapid investigations, and accurate information are needed. Any animal, whether domestic or wild, that poses a threat to public safety must be handled without hesitation. But precisely to protect people, it's essential to distinguish facts from hypotheses, and safety from fear.
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