I may seem cowardly and fatalistic, but I am simply a researcher of our fauna, and I feel it is my duty to bring to attention the dangerous error made in leaving this harmful species to freely multiply. What can be done, if not to destroy it, at least to limit its propagation? It seems to me that the new law on the protection of game and on the practise of hunting (24 June 1923 n. 1420) and the Regulation for its execution (September 24 1923 n. 2448) have protected this damaging carnivore too much. In fact, this new law permits the slaughter of birds for over seven months a year, from August 15 to March 31, yet it prohibits seven month hunting of vermin, only permitting it from August 15 to December 31! It rightly prohibits rake hunting in groups of more than five; it rightly prohibits hunting in snow, but it unintentionally prohibits wolf hunting, which works only when hunters are in large groups, when one can follow carnivore tracks and surround themselves in the woods where [wolves] seek shelter. The law rightly prohibits the killing of game by those not bearing arms, but in this way, it prohibits the killing of wolves by non-hunting peasants, who find themselves more often than not in more favourable conditions to find, track and strike [at wolves]. One can argue that in the law, there is article 42, which speaks of a special permit which the Ministry can grant with set conditions, but one must know that wolves (ever nomadic and stray, especially in the winter) do not wait for the blessing of the Authorities and when the permit arrives, they are already out of range for the hunters regularly granted authorisation to kill them. Our old hunting code not only permitted the killing of wolves all year round, but it granted the killers a monetary reward which at the time was considered substantial: 5 ducati would be granted for a wolf, 6 for a she-wolf and 8 for a pregnant she-wolf. The legislator has done wrong in not permitting the rewarding of beneficial killing, while the autonomous board of the Abruzzo National Park has done well, being conscious of the serious damage wolves are capable of against any game, especially against our chamois***, the persecuted survivor of a destroyed fauna. The said board has in fact established a sum of L. 150 for every killed wolf. If the killing is not rewarded, the wolf will continue to easily multiply, for many factors are in its favour:………

For all these reasons, in order to avoid that the wolf, once a frightening historic memory, should return as a living and palpitating reality; to avoid that it freely continues to multiply, insistent in destroying livestock and making attempts on human life with impunity, I am obligated to ask S.E**** Minister of National Economy that at every time, in every location and to any person be permitted the killing of the wolf and that there be given always an adequate monetary reward which encourages everyone to kill it with any method at their disposal.

The above is actually taken from a report written by Doctor Giuseppe Altobello, (An Enemy to Fight: The Wolf) a wildlife biologist in Italy, in 1924. Having lived through or been witness to recorded history of the terrible and trying times of years ago in dealing with the wolf-human encounters, Dr. Altobello seems anxious to do something about a growing wolf population before things get out of hand again.

This is another account of the absolute need to strictly regulate and manage wolf populations here in the United States.

I want to thank reader “Sam” for sending me several translated from Italian to English studies and findings of wolves in Italy.

Tom Remington

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