To the Italian Minister of the Environment and Energy Security,

I urge your ministry to treat the suspected poisoning of wolves in and around Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park as an urgent wildlife crime crisis.

Italian authorities are investigating the deaths of at least 18 wolves and other wild animals found in recent days in and around the park. Reports state that poison is suspected and that prosecutors have opened an investigation. Conservation groups have warned that this is one of the most serious wildlife attacks Italy has seen in years.

Poisoned bait is especially dangerous because it does not stop with one animal. Wolves may be the intended target, but foxes, birds, domestic animals, and endangered species can also die after contact with poison or poisoned carcasses. In this region, the risk extends to one of Italy’s most sensitive protected landscapes and to habitat used by the endangered Marsican brown bear.

This is also a public safety issue. Poison left in rural and park landscapes can expose people, working dogs, pets, and other animals. It undermines legal conservation policy and rewards vigilante action over lawful coexistence.

Your ministry should coordinate with park authorities, prosecutors, regional officials, and conservation experts to expand anti-poison patrols, increase rapid toxicology capacity, remove poisoned bait and carcasses quickly, support stronger prosecutions, and fund practical livestock protection measures that reduce conflict without killing wildlife.

Wolves are protected because they play an essential role in healthy ecosystems and because past persecution nearly eliminated them from parts of Europe. The answer to conflict cannot be secret poison in protected habitat.

Please commit national resources to stop poisoned bait, identify those responsible, and protect wolves and other wildlife in and around Italy’s national parks.

Sincerely,