Over the past couple of days across the social media, articles have been posted stating that the Mayor of Vagli Sotto in Garfagnana, MARIO PUGLIA is offering 10,000 euros for the name of the person showing off a large recently killed wolf. Those articles are now starting to appear in some of the local traditional media but maybe it is time to stop and think just a bit more about this sorry episode.
Wolves have recently been reintroduced in Garfagnana with some people not happy about the possibility of damage from the wolves.
The mayor who states that his comune has a policy of caring for all animals is disgusted by the killing of the wolf and wants the name of the person responsible and it apparently willing to put public money where his mouth is.
If he wanted to, all he had to do was spent a couple of minutes on the internet and lo and behold, up comes that image and it’s not in Vagli or Garfagnana or Italy or even Europe but is in apparently an image from 7 or 8 years ago showing an example of one of the large timber wolves imported from Canada to be found in Idaho in the USA.
Click on this link to see that page in full.
Here in Idaho, and throughout the Intermountain West, where the Candian Wolves were “re-introduced” in the mid 1990s under the Clinton administration, wolf numbers grew very rapidly. These were not native, Rocky Mountian wolves, instead they introduced the large timber wolves from Canada, starting in Yellowstone and then spreading into Idaho and surrounding states.
They produced so much damage to wild life populations and to live stock, that here in Idaho, Wyoming, and other places states hunts had to be instituted to control the populations, and the wolves “de-listed,” from protected status. It is a very good thing they were. In the 2011 and 2012 hunts, many wolves were killed that weighed well in excess of 150 lbs.
And then it gets really interesting because that link is not what it seems either as the Idaho Mountain Express reported:
A circulating photo of a giant wolf allegedly killed in Sun Valley by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is a hoax, say state officials. “That thing has gone viral!” said Todd Grimm, spokesman for Idaho Wildlife Services. “I can tell you it’s not in Idaho,” he said.
Regan Berkley, a wildlife biologist with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said she’s seen the photo attributed to a myriad of locations. “I’m almost certain it wasn’t from the Sun Valley area,” Berkley said in an email, adding that she’s seen it listed as being killed in Idaho, Montana and various parts of Canada.
Canada might be the best guess, according to wildlife officials. Grimm said the man in the photo is likely holding the wolf in Alberta or British Columbia. Randy Smith, big-game manager for the department’s regional office in Jerome, said the first time he saw the photo, it was listed as having been taken in British Columbia.
“The next time I saw it, it was marked Idaho,” he said.
It would seem that the 10,000 euro from Vagli is safe where it is and is not going to spent any time soon but maybe, just maybe, the Mayor of Vagli Sotto was already aware of that ?
https://www.facebook.com/mario.puglia.52/videos/1036777756445246/
Lupi in Garfagnana, le telecamere li riprendono nel bio parco di Vagli