First the bears and now the wolves:Trentino Alto Adige is at war with nature

After the killing of the KJ1 bear ordered by the autonomous province of Trento, the province of Bolzano now orders the killing of two wolves.

Update August 14, 5.45pm:The Regional Administrative Court of Bolzano accepted the urgent appeal presented by LNDC Animal Protection and WWF Italy against the decision of the President of the Province of Bolzano to kill two wolves from Val Venosta following some predations that occurred in recent months, suspending everything until the hearing collegiate meeting on September 10th.

• The autonomous province of Bolzano has authorized the killing of two wolves.
• Wolves have attacked flocks and pastures in at least nine documented incidents.
• The associations involved in the defense of animals are preparing an appeal to the TAR.

After the demolition of thebear Kj1 by the autonomous province of Trento, now it is the province of Bolzano that declares war on wild animals:in fact, Arno Kompatscher, president of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, has authorized it the killing of two wolves in Val Venosta.

It is not the first time that Bolzano has tried to cull wolves, but last year two appeals to the TAR presented by animal rights associations were upheld, blocking two culling orders.In short, a script identical to the one that led to the killing of Kj1.

Because Bolzano wants to kill two wolves

The decision by the Province of Bolzano comes after the attacks that wolves have undertaken against flocks and mountain pastures in the Upper Venosta Valley.The two wolves to be killed they would be chosen at random:the press office of the Automaton Province itself confirms this writes That two wolves will be taken among those considered "guilty" of the predation of 30 farmed animals, which occurred in nine events in three different mountain pastures in the municipal areas of Malles (fraction of Planol) and Curon.

The authorization to "take by killing 2 wolves" is published on the website of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and the text states that "the taking of 2, 4 or 6 wolves does not threaten the conservation status of the wolf population at a local level (Province of Bolzano), regional level (Provinces of Trento and Bolzano) and biogeographical (Alpine arc)”.This opinion was expressed in agreement with several scientists including Professor Klaus Hackländer, head of the Institute of Wildlife Biology and Hunting Management at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.

The associations are preparing yet another appeal to the TAR

Yet, there is little information on the actual number of wolves in Val Venosta, as confirmed by the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra) which declared the sampling compliant with provincial law, but without providing a scientific evaluation.“It is not clear how the predation criteria introduced by the law were identified and furthermore these criteria do not define the size of the area affected by the damage. These two aspects do not make it possible to adequately evaluate on the part of this Institute the existence of the first requirement required by the community law", writes Ispra.In short, from reading the opinion issued by Ispra, it clearly emerges that the highest national body responsible for evaluating the act produced by the province of Bolzano, is not able to evaluate compliance with the community law, based on the elements made available by the Province.“As if to say that Bolzano could be responsible for violating the Habitats Directive which guarantees the protection of wolves at EU level”, they explain from Lav.“In particular, in reference to the provincial law which last year had established the so-called “protected grazing areas” – as many as 98 percent of the mountain pastures present in the area – the killing of wolves becomes legitimate without even trying to use prevention measures, such as electrified fences and guard dogs".

“Our legal team is already working to file an appeal with the TAR against this umpteenth wicked choice of an administration that does not want to adapt to national and community regulations, that does not want to recognize the protection status of the wolf and its importance on an environmental level and above all that he does not want to recognize his right to exist in the world by doing what a wild animal does,” he says Piera Rosati, president of Lndc Animal Protection.“As always, in the minds of those who make these decisions there is only man and his presumed dominance over the environment, over animals and all of creation.An arrogant and outdated vision that we want to counter in every way.We must learn to live with other animals and respect them, especially if we decide to invade their spaces."

The wolf is a protected animal and to proceed with culling there must be a clear danger to humans, or significant economic damage resulting from predation, provided that it cannot be avoided in any other way.It means that before killing the two wolves, the breeder must demonstrate that he had done everything in his power to prevent harm from the animals.This is the battleground between activists and the Bolzano administration.