Online the updated report on wolf distribution in the Alpine regions 2020-2024

The updated report on wolf distribution in the Alpine regions 2020-2024 in now online, providing an update on the status of the Alpine wolf population from 2020/2021 to 2023/2024, obtained through sampling campaigns conducted over the past four years and coordinated by the LIFE WolfAlps EU project.

Precisely in the spirit of working across country boundaries, the Wolf Alpine Group (WAG), a working group comprising researchers and technicians from Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and Germany, was established in 2001. The group enables a constant exchange of scientific knowledge about the biology, distribution and status of the wolf population at the alpine population level; as well as producing robust population estimates, thanks in part to ongoing work to improve monitoring methodologies. For this latest report, researchers from Liechtenstein also officially joined the WAG, which now includes all 7 Alpine countries.

As shown in the updated presence map to 2023/2024 on page 12 (Fig. 4), the Western Alps population is characterised by higher pack density, while the expansion in the Central-Eastern Alps is still ongoing, and the Dinaric population is expanding northwestwards. The map highlights the international dimension of the Alpine wolf population and justifies the need for a coordinated approach to wolf monitoring in the 7 Alpine countries.