OUR COMMITMENT TO WOLVES – A SHORT OVERVIEW FROM WHAT ALMO NATURE HAS ACCOMPLISHED IN THE PAST FEW YEARS

Wolves are important animals as they make a massive contribution to our biodiversity and that is why we are helping to protect them. We started our activities in Italy but we are expanding these in Europe. In this blog, you can read about the progress we made and our main activities in the past 4 years.

We initiated the "Lupi" (wolf) project in 2014 with the aim to provide a sustainable solution to the problems pertaining to coexistence issues between farmers and predators. Since then, the Lupi project has supported numerous farmers throughout Italy, who opted to use animal friendly methods to protect their livestock from large predators such as wolves, by making use of guard dogs. Almo Nature’s role in this project was to provide food for the guard dogs. We supported several projects throughout Italy.

2014 – the first steps

The Lupi project first supported the Wolf Appenine Centre (WAC) and subsequently the Pollino National Park in Calabria, in southern Italy. This site is a park in which a large number of wolves lived despite ongoing opposition from farmers looking to protect their livestock. When Pollino Park started the "Living with wolves, knowing them to preserve them" initiative, a project with the aim to protect wolves, Almo Nature took the chance to support them. The objective of the initiative was to allow farmers to live and work in peace, by supplying them with sheepdogs and adapted fences to ward off predators instead of opting to use harmful methods. More than 19 farmers in the Pollino region took part in the project.

2015 - A single objective: to preserve wolves in the Alps.

Continuing with this successful approach, Almo Nature supported the Life Wolfalps project,a project dedicated to the preservation of wolves in the Alps. Guards dogs are the only animals who are able to sucessfully protect lifestock from wolves, but they come with high maintenance costs that farmers can’t always afford. Recognising the importance of wolves and wanting to help preserve biodiversity in the Alps, Almo Nature, delivered a shipment of more than three tonnes of pet food to farmers wanting to work with guard dogs in the municipality of Entracque.

The farmers who took part in this project also benefited from the advice, in terms of the maintenance and sanitary requirements of the guard dogs, provided by the veterinarians of the Life Wolfalps project.

2018 – A new step and a new name

In 2018 the Lupi project was renamed to Farmers & Predators! Because we understood that the conflict could only be resolved by actively helping the farmers to coexist with wolves. The new angle and name helps us to work with farmers by supplying them with the help they need to live in peace with wolves and employ non evasive methods to protect their lifestock as well as helping them to perform better, selling organic, local produce at a high price.

This project consists out of two separate actions:

In Reduce the Conflict, we provide and train guard dogs – and supply food for their nutrition – to farmers who chose this peaceful coexistence approach over more inhumane predator management methods. Between January 2018 and July 2018, 150 companies joined the Reduce The Conflict project and received support and supplies for 627 guardian dogs.

In a Possible Alliance, we will support food production in countries across Europe if the farmers agree to two conditions: (1) high attention to the product quality and (2) respect for the biological diversity around them, including predators. We will create a platform that will support produce sales for farmers committing to the agreement.

"What drives Almo Nature forward is its willingness to make a real contribution to the regeneration of biodiversity and its concrete commitment to animals - including wolves. They are still in danger today and are victims of poaching or accidents very often caused by man," says Pier Giovanni Capellino, President of Almo Nature."

Join us in our continuing efforts to protect wolves, support farmers, and help to sustain biodiversity across Europe. Keep an eye on our website and social media platforms in order to be up to date on the latest developments. [LINK farmers and predators web page]

Last but not least a massive thank you to all the partners we have worked with, and will continue to work with, on projects expanding the awareness about the topic of biodiversity, wolves and farmers.

Life WolfAlps project in Alpi Cozie, Alpi Marittime and Veneto regions
The Difesattiva associacion in the Tuscany and Liguria region
The ADGP association in Trentino
Canis Lupus association in Tuscany
Pollino Park in Calabria
Casentinese Forest Park in Emilia Romagna/Tuscany
Appenino Piemontese Park in Piemonte