How a Wolf's Trauma in an Anthropized Environment Drives Its Return to Nature

In the morning of Thursday, March 2, 2023, a wolf was reported inside a small courtyard on the outskirts of the city of Savona in Liguria (Figure 1) . The animal was promptly rescued with the intervention of the Regional Wildlife Police Unit of the Liguria Region, in collaboration with the veterinary service and Carabinieri.

The animal, a male about 3 years old, had a displaced fracture of the femur in the right hind leg, probably caused by a fall from the roof above the courtyard. The wolf was treated at the Wildlife Rescue Center (CRAS) in Cadibona (Savona) and subsequently underwent a rehabilitation period in a captive facility  in Entracque (Cuneo). In July 2023, it was released back into the wild, equipped with a GPS radio collar. Thanks to the GPS collar, it was possible to monitor the movements of this wolf: satellite locations indicated that the animal was constantly on the move, thus in a roaming phase among stable wolf packs, covering a total area of 2564 km², extending between the Italian and French Alps.

As part of the LIFE WILD WOLF project, an intensive research study on the wolf   was conducted by the University of Turin to assess whether, following the  trauma and capture in an urban environment, the wolf was capable of actively hunting wild ungulates, live in natural environments, or if it if he was attracted again by an urbanized landscape. 
The study revealed that the animal actively preyed on alpine wild ungulates (mainly chamois), and demonstrated a strong selection for wild areas and high alpine altitudes, often moving on the borders of residential packs.Surprisingly, the wolf never approached urbanized areas again.

In an era of increasing urbanization, the story of this wolf is of significant interest, demonstrating how a traumatic event in an urban environment can lead wildlife to develop an aversion to human-altered landscapes, prompting them to select  natural habitats.
Additionally, it is important to highlight that  behavioural studies like this have a critical role in evaluating if a wolf's behavior is consistently confident or problematic, or if its presence in a human-altered environment was incidental. 

The successful outcome of this case provides encouraging prospects for developing evidence-based landscape planning strategies that integrate wildlife conservation with human land use and promote successful coexistence between wildlife and humans.