Witnesses observed several wolves on the Stelvio Pass on the border between Italy and Switzerland. The animals ran uphill on a freshly groomed ski slope between giant slalom poles before disappearing again.
The sighting took place early in the morning in Santa Catarina Valfurva in Italy’s Stelvio National Park. The eyewitnesses initially discovered two animals, followed a little later by a third.
Video shows the wolves moving on the slope between giant slalom gates up the mountain, but shortly afterwards visual contact is lost.
While opponents of wolves, such as the group “Ruralpini rezepta rurale” campaign on Facebook, the Italian authorities intervene. It was a completely normal incident in this alpine environment. The wolves were probably hunting, but there was no danger to skiers, the national park management said.
In order to assign the animals to a specific, already registered pack, attempts are now being made to secure and analyze DNA traces.
Incidents involving wild animals continue to occur in Italy
In Italy there are regular incidents with bears and encounters with wolves. Only at the beginning of December was the EU downgraded the protection status of wolves from “strictly protected” to “protected”. The reduction was “great news and the result of a widely shared EU position, which Italy was one of the first countries to push for,” Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said at the time.
“This decision, based on scientific data, allows measures to be taken to protect agriculture and livestock farming, which are in difficulty in many areas of Italy due to wolves,” the minister said. “We are finally moving beyond long-winded ideological positions that harm the environment and human activities.”
Source: Krone
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