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  "path": "/news/wolves-found-dead-in-italy-amid-poisoning-fears.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-17T13:00:33.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.wantedinrome.com",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "Animals"
  ],
  "textContent": "WWF laments \"one of the most serious wildlife crimes of the last 10 years\" in Italy.\n\nTen wolves have been found dead within and around a national park in central Italy, in what wildlife authorities believe to be a deliberate poisoning campaign.\n\n\nThe grim discoveries in the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise has prompted the opening of a criminal investigation and sparked an outcry from conservation organisations.\n\n\nFive carcasses were found on Wednesday morning in the municipality of Alfedena, in the province of L'Aquila, where remains consistent with poisoned bait were found at the site.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe discovery was made all the more alarming by the finding of five further wolf carcasses a short distance away in the territory of Pescasseroli a few days earlier.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInvestigators are working to establish whether the two incidents are connected.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPost-mortem examinations have been entrusted to the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Abruzzo and Molise, with poisoning considered the most likely cause of death. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUnacceptable\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn a statement, WWF Italia described the events as one of the most serious wildlife crimes in Italy in the past decade, slamming it as \"unacceptable criminality in a civilized counry\".\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe park authorities condemned what they called an \"illegal\" and \"extremely serious\" act, warning that the use of poisoned bait poses an indiscriminate threat to all wildlife in the area, including the Marsican brown bear - a critically endangered subspecies for which the park is a flagship conservation site.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe WWF linked the killings to a broader pattern of illegal persecution. Days before the Abruzzo discoveries, two wolves were killed and mutilated in Tuscany.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nProtected status\nThe organisation warned that a \"climate of hatred\" towards wolves is being fuelled in part by recent political decisions weakening the species' legal protection.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe European Union, the signatory states of the Bern Convention, and the Italian government under Giorgia Meloni have supported a downgrading of the wolf's protected status - from \"strictly protected\" to merely \"protected\" - which opened the door to lethal control measures.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe first legal culling of wolves in Italy in 50 years took place in the northern Alto Adige region last summer.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe WWF argued that this downgrading will not reduce illegal killings but risks instead \"legitimising illegal behaviour and encouraging poaching\".\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe organisation stated that it intends to join the case as a civil party in the event of a trial.",
  "title": "Ten wolves found dead in Italy amid poisoning fears"
}