The wolf: the Italian population is increasing
ISPRA estimates over 3000 specimens in Italy
The results of the first national wolf monitoring are online
An estimated number of around 950 specimens move in the Alpine regions, while there are almost 2400 distributed along the rest of the peninsula. Overall, the presence of about 3,300 wolves is estimated in Italy. If we calculate the extent of the wolf presence areas (41,600 km2 in the Alpine regions and 108,500 km2 in the peninsular regions), it can be said that the species occupies almost all of the suitable environments in peninsular Italy. Wherever the wolf population has grown, the most significant increase has been recorded in the Alps.These are the estimates of the presence of the wolf in Italy produced by Ispra on a mandate from the Ministry of Ecological Transition at the end of the monitoring project of the species carried out at national level.
An activity that, between 2020 and 2021, involved a vast network of experts in the collection of signs of the presence of the wolf from North to South. In the Alpine regions, monitoring was coordinated by the Large Carnivore Reference Center of Piedmont and by the University. of Turin (DBIOS) as part of the Life WolfAlps EU project. The study required the integration of field and genetic investigation techniques, analyzing the results with the most recent statistical models produced by the scientific community.