Monitoring the Alpine Wolf Population

Successful conservation and management of the wolf in a highly anthropogenic region such as the Alps is only possible on the basis of objective data and effective monitoring of the conservation status of the species.

The LIFE WolfAlps EU project will launch a standardised and internationally coordinated monitoring system for the conservation status of the Alpine wolf population. The fact that the wolf is a species living at low densities, with large territories which do not respect the administrative limits, and the large dispersal capacity of the youngest animals require an extensive and coordinated monitoring of its presence beyond the borders of individual states. With the first LIFE WolfAlps project we succeeded in coordinating the highly fragmented Italian institutions. With this LIFE WolfAlps EU project, we aim to carry out the first coordinated monitoring of the distribution and composition of the Alpine wolf population.

As recommended in the “Guidelines for population level management plans for large carnivores” approved by the European Commission, a detailed knowledge of the size and distribution of the wolf population in the different Alpine states is necessary to understand the conservation status of the species, which is an important basis for the correct implementation of the conservation actions and communication programmes of the project.

The monitoring of the presence of the species will be extended also to the project area of the Ligurian-Piedmont Apennines and adapted to the newly recolonized hilly and lowland areas.

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