Overview
- Across about a week, 18 wolves were found dead in the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, where foxes and a buzzard were also discovered dead.
- Toxicology on 13 carcasses found farm pesticide residues that match what is used in poisoned bait, so investigators are focusing on deliberate poisoning.
- The Sulmona public prosecutor opened a criminal case and park teams increased searches, though no poisoned bait has been recovered so far.
- Italy’s environment minister, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, condemned the killings as a grave act and authorities reinforced controls to protect wildlife in the area.
- Animal-protection group ENPA called to scrap legal wolf-cull quotas under the ISPRA plan, pointing to heavy illegal killing and a wider toll, including 34 wolf deaths in January and February and recent cases near Pisa.