Parco delle Alpi Marittime

The wolf, big carnivorous animal, is an essential plug in the food chain regulating the balance of several natural habitats. If there are no "enemies", the risk is that the populations of wild ungulates (wild boar, deer, roe deer, chamois) excessively grow. The wolf represents one of the control "factors" and works in a targeted way: since it is a selective hunter, it tends to attack ill or weak animals.
The wolf, predator par excellence, has always represented a rival for men. A rival that has deserved over the centuries great respect, to the extent that it has become the protagonist of myths and legends but, at the same time, has suffered a merciless hunting leading, in many cases, to its extinction.

So different, but so similar: men and wolves can live together? The Wildlife Center of Alpi Marittime Park, before providing answers, offers to visitors - to young and adult visitors, to visitors who do not know anything about the issue and to wildlife experts - the opportunity to better discover this animal, its behavior, and therefore the opportunity to have at disposal all the necessary elements to form a documented and conscious opinion.

However, the aims pursued by the project "Uomini e Lupi" include much more. The challenge is to create an attraction that can become a valid alternative to forms of mountain tourism characterized by a high environmental impact: for instance, skiing facilities. The wolf, that without a doubt represents a problem for shepherds, can reveal itself an important opportunity for the local economy.

The Wildlife Center "Uomini e Lupi" is formed by two exhibit structures, one in Entracque paese and the other one in località Casermette. They are both equipped with multimedia installations. The visit to the two sections is independent and you can start from the one you prefer. The necessary time to visit a Center is about one hour.

The Wildlife Center "Uomini e Lupi" in loc. Casermette includes an enclosure of about 8 ha housing some specimens of Canis lupus italicus. They are animals that could not live in a wild state, because they have suffered serious accidents - almost always a traffic accident - or because they were born in captivity.

In the middle of the area there is a three-floor small tower working as an observation point of the enclosure. If it is very rare to sight a wolf in nature, we would like to inform you that in the wildlife center the observation of the wolf must not be taken for granted. It is easier to sight the animals during the feeding time or thanks to telecameras.

You can reach the small tower through a tunnel, where an exhibit introducing the wolf from a naturalistic point of view has been prepared.