THE LAST WOLF WHISPERER

I wasn’t totally convinced there was a story here to write about but I made the phone call just the same. A voice at the other end of the phone answered and I introduced myself and explained the purpose of my call. “It’s me, I’m the guy you are looking for” answered the gentleman at the other end of the line. His voice beamed with excitement and he became louder and louder with each passing sentence. He was definitely excited and enthusiastic about meeting with me and telling me his story. If there is one thing I have learned after ten years of living here in Italy is, you can never underestimate the eagerness and passion of an Italian who has something to say, especially when it comes to storytelling experiences and adventures they have had in their lives.

My interview was a 2 hour drive away in the small, mountainside village called Barrea and the Sunday morning journey involved driving through a blinding snowstorm with howling winds and sub-zero temperatures. The village of 730 citizens is located in the heart of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio, Molise, in central Italy. It’s an area rich with fauna and flora with lush valleys surrounded by jagged mountain peaks exceeding 7000 feet. As a nature and wildlife photographer, this happens to be one of my favorite areas to spend time in; it offers me a vast variety of subject matter and endless photographic opportunities. This particular meeting was of special interest to me as I was about to interview a local gentleman of 75 years of age called Tommaso D’amico but everyone calls him by his nickname, Pasetta but he was also known by the locals as the last wolf whisperer. Accompanying me was my cousin Antonio and a close friend Luigi who wanted to meet Pasetta. They were hoping to perhaps have some photos taken with him.

The normal two hour drive actually took three hours because of the snow storm and Tommaso must have been waiting and watching for me to arrive from a window. As I parked my vehicle and before I had a chance to open the car door, I was met by a bruising, ruggedly built man barely five feet tall. His burly white beard and bushy eyebrows stood out from beneath a dark sheepskin wood-folk cap. His shoulders were caped with a goatskin mantle and hanging from his neck was a white cotton sack and an old worn out hiking boot with the toe area cut open into a flap. His eyes were mirror-like and his teeth were as white as the surrounding snow. My first impression was that I was about to meet the Italian version of Jeremiah Johnson, the mountain man, portrayed by Robert Redford in the 1972 western film, directed by Sydney Pollack. After the initial greeting we went into his lodge and we began talking about his experiences with the wolf pack in and around the surrounding area. The walls of his lodge office were filled with hundreds of old photographs of the area, some dating as far back as the late eighteen hundreds, some more recent. Shelves and desktops all but disappeared under the hundreds of magazine and newspapers containing articles written about him and of his efforts to protect the Marsicano or Marsican wolf, educate people on wolf behavior and promote wolf tourism in the region. With the first words he spoke, I realized this was a man, excited, enthusiastic and charged, a man full of life willing to share his stories and experiences with anyone willing to listen.

“My grandfather was a wolf hunter. They even made a movie about him in the early nineteen fifties called Men and Wolves. He was responsible for the welfare of sixty eight shepherds and their sheep which numbered just over six thousand head in the Barrea area. He would decide which area a shepherd would use for grazing and how many sheep would be in the shepherds care. He based this on the age and experience of the shepherd and the number of wolves which lived in area. Younger, less experienced men would be responsible for smaller flocks and would graze their flocks closer to populated areas while older, more experienced shepherds would tend to larger flocks in less populated more remote mountainous regions. During my grandfathers time, everyone depended on the sheep and sheep related products for their livelihood. This was the only means of financial support for most families. At one time the sheep population which included other flocks from other towns in the region was estimated to be around fifty thousand head and this was a resource which needed to be protected. Today, the people have other means of supporting their families and now there are only about one thousand sheep left which continue to graze in and around the Barrea area.”

As I continued to interview Tommaso I would try to take photographs of him as inconspicuous as possible and my cousin Antonio, also a photographer did the same. Tommaso remained focused on his stories and continued to recount his memories.

“My grandfather used to put rancid pieces of meat in a sack just like the one I have hanging around my neck. He used this meat to bait the wolves. He would also wear a goat-skin vest or goat-skin coat when hunting to camouflage his scent. Then he would go into the forest and scatter the pieces of meat on the ground placing them in line of sight from where he would hide. His hiding place was usually up in a tree so he was out of sight and out of any danger of attack by any wolves which would approach the bait. Once in the tree, he would howl into the boot he had hanging from his neck and try to imitate and draw the attention of any nearby wolf or wolf pack. Of course, any animal which came within gunshot range would be killed. This technique was very effective and the wolf population was kept low. Sometimes many wolves would be shot in one day. Their bodies would be hung upside down and then tied to the side of a horse drawn cart. The cart would be ridden from town to town and the hunters would cry out their deed so residents could see the dead wolves and give offerings for having spared local livestock from the jaws of the predator. If only one wolf was shot, my grandfather would go from home to home with the wolf around his neck and people would give him offerings. People didn’t have much in those days and offerings usually consisted of a few pennies or some food. That was the worth of a wolf’s life.”

After the Second World War the wolf population in this central Apennine region was devastated and the Marsican wolf was almost brought to the point of extinction. In nineteen seventy, the Italian government created the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio, Molise and all hunting within the park boundaries was prohibited. The wolf, along with other predatory animals such as the Marsican brown bear and Apennine golden eagle became protected species. The park consists of 500 square kilometers or just under 200 square miles of territory. The heart of the rugged Apennine mountain chain runs through the center of the park and seven mountain peaks above two thousand meters (6561 feet) are within park boundaries with Mount Petroso being the highest at 2249 meters or 7378 feet above sea level. The headquarters for the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio, Molise is located in the heart of the park but despite the best efforts of park officials, park rangers and local law enforcement, the Marsican wolf is still being killed within park boundaries with poison baits and shootings. The Marsican Brown Bear and Apennine Golden Eagle are also other park resident of the park under attack by poachers in the area.

“Today it is different” continued Tommaso. “People are smarter and understand better the importance of having a balance between wild animals living in their habitat and man with his domestic livestock both using the same lands. Each one needs to have their own space. My grandfather hunted wolves and that was how he earned his living, by hunting and killing the wolf. Today, I earn my living with my campground and by protecting and promoting the wolf population through tours into their territory in and around the national park area.”
Photo album