“Preliminary results of wolf (Canis lupus italicus) predaction to livestock in Lazio Region” – XII Internacional Symposium - New challenges for the management and conservation of bear and wolf populations, 27 September – 1 October 2023, Zamora, Spain
Author(s)
Cristiano Tiberi
Date Issued
2023
Type
conferenceObject
Abstract
In Europe in the last decade there has been a 25% increase in the wolf's range. In Italy, the
number of wolves has increased over the last ten years, distributing itself almost throughout the
country. At the same time, the areas of overlap between wolves and anthropic activities have
increased with related problems of predation in the livestock. The aim of this study was to
investigate the predatory activity of the wolf in Lazio Region in the period 2016-2021 and the
incidence of predation on livestock. The data was retrieved from Hunting Region Offices (ATC).
The analysis lacks data on protected areas, corresponding to 13,5% of the entire regional area
17.242 km². The Lazio Region have 5 provinces: (Rieti; Roma; Viterbo; Latina; Frosinone). The
data were aggregated on a provincial scale by recording: year of predation, predator species, prey
species, predatory events (n°), individuals preyed upon by event (n°) and estimated economic
damage (€). Descriptive statistics were performed. The total predation events were 527 with
different frequencies in the provinces investigated (Rieti = 37.57%, Rome = 22.39%, Viterbo =
19.73%, Frosinone = 16.69%, Latina = 3.60%). Although the mountain areas of the province of
Rieti may potentially appear to be the most exposed to the risk of predation, an important part of
the predation events has been recorded in the anthropized hilly areas of the provinces of Rome
and Viterbo. The total number of livestock looted was 2422 of which 82.6% sheep, 9.7% cattle,
5.3% horses, 2.2% goats and 0.2% other, with an estimated total economic loss of € 389’325.
During the analysed period, the year with the highest number of attacks was 2017 (154). An
average of 87.8 attacks are recorded in the Region per year. The lack of data with reference to
the Province of Rieti in the years 2020-2021 and the lack of data from protected areas produce an
underestimation of the real average value of predation events in the Region. The trend analysis
was conducted only in the provinces of Latina, Rome, Frosinone and Viterbo, for which
complete and/or partial data was available, but not missing. Every year (not considering the
province of Rieti) the number of attacks is equal to an average of 54.8 with a maximum of 71
events (2017) and a minimum of 34 events (2021). Given the lack and incompleteness of the data
analysed, the results must be considered partial and not real. The analysis should be repeated
making sure to find all the complete and representative data of the entire territory. Further
analyses should be carried out in the coming years.
Conference(s)
XII Internacional Symposium - New challenges for the management and conservation of bear and wolf populations, 27 September – 1 October 2023, Zamora, Spain