The Return of the Wolf Part Two

Wolves again?

At the end of December 2012 during our big snow-in, wolf paw prints were sighted near the village of Lucarelli below Le Ripe.

In the first days of 2014, the carcass of a mauled and half-devoured roe deer was found down by the Pesa river, very close to the village. Locals say the killing is unmistakable: only wolves or wild dogs leave half a carcass in that state.** The next day the remains of the deer had been dragged closer to the river and devoured some more.

canis lupus lupus, Eurasian wolf

Methinks the Wild is closer than we reckoned.  

Yet, if the deer population were controlled in this way it would seem part of the natural order of things.

capreolus capreolus, roe deer

 
**It has been pointed out to me that the deer may have died on its own and been devoured and dragged by foxes: this is a possibility of course, but the wolf story is so much more   exciting, I think I shall stick with that for now.