WolfQuest

Backlash after Italian councils allow bears and wolves to be shot
July 9, 2018
THE LOCAL - ITALY

Two northern Italian councils have legalized the shooting of wild wolves and bears, plans which have been met with backlash from animal rights organizations and the Minister for the Environment.

The provinces of Trento and Bolzano, both located in Italy's Alpine region, issued the rules allowing troublesome wolves or bears to be shot without needing approval from the state.

In Trento, the bill was passed on Thursday with only one opposing vote and six abstentions, and allows for the animals to be caught and possibly shot, if they are considered a risk to "people or to the mountain agricultural system".

... The Italian wolf population dropped to just 100 in the 1960s, but in 1971 they were declared a protected species and a ban on hunting them has allowed numbers to creep back up to an estimated 1,600. They live predominantly in the mountainous regions of the Appenines and the Alps.