‘We’d like to shoot them all’: growing army of wolfdogs raises hackles across Europe

Experts say the hybrids risk polluting' the genetic stock, but scientists disagree on how to deal with them. In Piedmont, Italy, the sight of a blond wolfdog signals the risk of another new litter

• Photographs by Alberto Olivero

From the moment the rangers first saw him on their trail cameras, the problem was apparent. The wolf, spotted deep in the woods of Italy's Gran Bosco di Salbertrand park, was not grey like his companion, but an unusual blond. His colouring indicated this was not a wolf at all, but a hybrid wolfdog - the first to be seen so far into Piedmont's alpine region. And where one hybrid is found, more are sure to follow.

We thought he would go away," says Elisa Ramassa, a park ranger in Gran Bosco who has tracked the local wolves for 25 years. Unfortunately, he found a female who loves blonds."

Elisa Ramassa and fellow ranger Massimo Rosso search for wolf tracks in Gran Bosco di Salbertrand park; and a wolfdog in the mountains (photographed by Massimo Rosso)