Eight hybrid wolves identified, they will be taken and neutered

Starting from Thursday 7 April, the first traps will be placed to capture the specimens. The Biodiversity service of the Region: they will be equipped with radio collar

TARVISIO. His return and the rapid recolonization of the Friulian mountains, where he had been missing for a century, is at the origin of raids and fears, both for the population and for the breeders. From Carnia, to Tarvisiano and up to Cansiglio, there are at least thirty wolves present in Friuli, they are part of five or perhaps more packs, to which must be added young individuals in dispersion.

Among them there are eight hybrids that move from the area of ​​the three borders to Malborghetto. The Region has requested and obtained authorization from the Ministry of Ecological Transition: they will be captured to be equipped with radio collar and sterilized. It will be dealt with by the forest police, together with the Progetto lince Italia association. An operation that will begin on Thursday 7 April, when a group of technicians will set the traps, with them will be Mario De Bortoli and Graziano Busettini of the Tarvisio hunting reserve.

“The wolf reappeared in 2013 in the Pordenone foothills – explains Umberto Fattori of the Region’s biodiversity service -. The first pack was noticed five years later, then another five, or maybe even seven, formed. These are highly territorial species that can occupy from 80 to 400 square kilometers of range ».

The flocks are made up of an average of four or six individuals, led by an alpha male and an alpha female who reproduce in late winter; it happens that, as the breeding season approaches, some young specimens leave the herd to go into dispersion in search of a territory and a partner.

“The rapid spread of these specimens in the region – points out Fattori – can be traced back to the dynamics of expansion that occurred from the western to the eastern Alps, to the migration of specimens that come from the Dinaric population, to the protection policies of the species introduced over the years. Seventy, the abandonment of the mountain and the increase of ungulates ». To pay the bill is mainly mountain animal husbandry, which is already facing economic difficulties and which has seen an increase in the raids of herds, cattle, sheep and goats in the first place. The Region intervened by supporting prevention actions, which include funding for electrified fences, bollards and guard dogs.

«I have been following hybrid wolves since 2020, when they spread over our territory. Their presence in Valcanale, in fact, was reported a couple of years ago, when a first specimen from Slovenia appeared – reports the director of the Tarvisio hunting reserve and nature photographer De Bortoli -. Over time, we have monitored the presence of the herd, to which a solitary specimen is added, we have also filmed them with camera traps, but they are very suspicious animals: after a first passage, they usually change path. In Austria – he comments -, when they get close to less than 200 meters from the houses, they can be killed and, now, Slovenia is ready to suppress the hybrids ».

«The black coat, already a significant index of hybridism, has been confirmed by genetic tests – highlights Fattori -. A hybrid specimen formed a couple with a pure she-wolf from which seven puppies were born who are still alive, although mortality among the new born is usually high ».

It is on that herd that the interventions planned by the Region are now focusing, which intends to capture them to sterilize them in order to prevent their spread.

«Hybrids behave very similar to pure wolves, so the danger is the same» points out Fattori. Episodes of documented attacks on humans date back to past centuries, “it is important, however – he adds – to adopt behaviors that do not make inhabited centers attractive for wildlife, avoiding leaving organic waste, catering waste or gutted animals unattended and watching over animals. domestic “.

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