Live Discussion about the challenges the rare Italian Gray wolf faces…

Salvatore, on the left, is a tour guide and the founder of inviaggioconl’obiettivo, the page which is hosting this on-line event, Antonio is a naturalist photographer and wolves expert, Carmen, on the right is an expert dog trainer.

The following is a brief summary by Brunella Pernigotti

At the live Facebook event of tonight, Antonio Iannibelli (wolf expert, naturalist photographer and founder of the www.antonioiannibelli.it website together with Carmen Petrulli (dog instructor), have been invited by Salvatore Di Stefano (environmental hiking guide and founder of the page inviaggioconlobiettivo.it ), to speak about “Dogs and wolves: differences and similarities”.

Summarizing very briefly, during the meeting, after a brief introduction relating to the millennial history that binds the wolf to the domestic dog, the speakers replied to the numerous questions of the public who assisted. People were curious to know and to have scientific information on the differences between dogs and wolves. Morphological differences, for example dentition; behavioral, for example the way they attack their preys; managerial, for example the legal differences in Italy in the management of stray dogs, of wolves and even of hybrids that can derive from crossbreeds between abandoned domestic dogs and wandering wolves. In Italy breeding hybrids is against the law but there are no rules to follow if a wild hybrid is identified and recognized as such thanks to its DNA.

The conclusion we all reached is that Canis Lupus Italicus is a very rare and precious subspecies of Canis Lupus and that it must be protected in its purity for the sake of biodiversity and also for the sake of our pets that must not be left free to wander unchecked in the countryside.