Winter wolf monitoring underway

In October, refresher/training sessions for network operators involved in the 2022/2023 sampling campaign of wolf monitoring in the Alpine regions started in the LIFE WolfAlps EU project territories.

In particular, in Italy, the series of meetings involved the entire network made up of the staff of the Provinces, Carabinieri Forestali, Protected Areas, Hunting Associations, various national and local associations that can count on a large number of motivated volunteers.
From Liguria to Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in 15 in-presence and on-line meetings, more than 540 people met to check the wolf’s presence status and to discuss the winter sampling schedule, planned according to the Project objectives and the availability of the Authorities. For the period 2021-2023, in fact, the distribution of the species’ presence at the level of the Italian alpine regions will be updated, but not the estimate of the population size (number of wolves and packs) as carried out in the 2020/2021 sampling of the national monitoring.

In Austria, the Veterinary University of Vienna, project partner, in cooperation with the Österreichzentrum Bär Wolf Luchs and the Nationalpark Kalkalpen, a first online meeting was held in early December involving 22 people, while in Slovenia and France meetings are ongoing.

Why is it so important to monitor the species? Watch the animated clip!

Your help is important! Please send your sightings along with photos and videos here!