Lupo Italiano | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Origin | Italy | ||||||||||
Breed status | Not recognised as a breed by any major kennel club. | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Dog ( domestic dog ) |
The Lupo Italiano is a dog breed from Italy. According to its creator, the breed's foundation was a wolf hybrid produced from crossing a German Shepherd and an Italian wolf, though a number of genetic studies put this in doubt.
As it is not recognised by the ENCI, selection and rearing of the Lupo Italiano is carried out by the Lupo Italiano Caregivers Association (Associazione degli Affidatari Allevatori del Lupo Italiano; AAALI), a state-funded nonprofit organisation which prohibits its sale and only allows specimens to be leased to volunteers, police and search and rescue organisations.
According to the breed standard established by the Lupo Italiano Caregivers Association (Associazione degli Affidatari Allevatori del Lupo Italiano; AAALI), the Lupo Italiano has a wolf-like muzzle, powerful jaws, and pointed medium-length ears. The eyes should ideally be gold colour and oblique in shape. The adult should be 58 to 68 centimetres (23 to 27 in) at the shoulder, have a robust chest and a back that is not too low. Its tread is light, even in large specimens. [1] The breed's creator claimed that it can run at speeds of 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph). [2] The coat is grey with shades of fulvous or beige, but the standard allows for full black or a white patch on the chest. The tail is long and pendulous when relaxed, but takes on a slight curve when raised. [1]
According to the breed's creator, former banker Mario Messi, the Lupo Italiano originated in 1966 after he was given a wolf hybrid born from a female Italian wolf, captured in the Province of Rieti by a hunter in his employ, and a male German Shepherd specialised in rescue operations. [2] [3] [4] The hybrid, "Zorro", was then mated to German Shepherds and their resulting female offspring. [5] [2] The specimens were originally kept in a 19th century villa in Cumiana [3] until Messi was ordered to relocate by the mayor of the comune after residents of Borgata Porta complained about the dogs' howls. [6] [7] The dogs were moved to a modern facility capable of housing 200 specimens, and included enclosures modeled after the wolf's natural habitat. [5]
In 1980, Messi founded the Original Association for the Selection of Lupo Italianos (Associazione Selezione Originale di Lupi Italiani; ASOLI), a nonprofit organisation dedicated to preserving the breed's purity. [8] [5] The organisation was funded by volunteer contributions, and Messi declared that the Lupo Italiano could only be leased for public utility. [9] Official recognition of the Lupo Italiano by the ENCI was slated for July 4, 1982 during the Italian dog breed expo, [5] but this did not materialise due to Messi's refusal to commercialise the breed. [10]
In February 1984, the experimental phase of the breeding project was declared concluded, with the Lupo Italiano's phenotype having been stabilised. [11] Nevertheless, Messi expressed concern that he would have to close the breeding facility, despite the patronage of the Ministry of Public Education and the Ministry of Ecology in Piedmont. [12] The next year, lack of funds made providing food and vaccines to the dogs difficult, resulting in the deaths of several pups from disease and malnutrition. [13] [14] In 1987, despite being warned of the possible euthanisation of all 200 dogs in the facility, Messi continued to oppose selling them, even to cover costs. [15]
On July 13, 1987, president Francesco Cossiga signed a decree recognising the ASOLI. [16] The Official Registry of the Lupo Italiano was established later by Filippo Maria Pandolfi, which granted the ASOLI exclusive control over the breed's care and breeding. [17] In 1989, the ASOLI was renamed Lupo Italiano Management Institution (Ente per la Tutela del Lupo Italiano; ETLI) and private ownership of the Lupo Italiano was prohibited by presidential decree. [18] [19] Nevertheless, the breeding facility's financial situation continued to be precarious, with Messi launching an appeal for further funding. [20]
In 1990, it was reported that the Lupo Italianos in the Cumiana facility were in poor health due to lack of food, medical treatment and flooding of their enclosures. [21] Two years later, the facility was seized after local health authorities revealed the risk of outbreaks of leptospirosis, piroplasmosis, leishmaniasis and dirofilariasis, and an indictment was requested for lack of hygiene and mistreatment of the dogs in the facility. [22] [23]
In 2000, citing a continued lack of funding, Messi implied that he would be forced to transfer ETLI headquarters abroad. [24] The next year, with support from Stefania Belmondo, Messi petitioned to have the Lupo Italiano as the official mascot of the 2006 Winter Olympics. [25] In 2004, the breed was nominated the official assistance dog of the games. [26]
In 2007, it was reported that the Cumiana facility no longer had Lupo Italianos, having become occupied by dogs of different breeds. Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies Luca Zaia noted that the ETLI was deeply in debt and no longer breeding or training its dogs, and criticised Messi's "barely democratic" management policies. [27] [28] In May 2010, the ETLI was liquidated by the Turin prefecture and management of the breed was assigned to the Lupo Italiano Caregivers Association (Associazione degli Affidatari Allevatori del Lupo Italiano; AAALI). [29] [30]
In 1982, Mario Messi described the Lupo Italiano as 62.5% German Shepherd and 37.5% Italian wolf. [5] In a 2002 interview, he declared that the breed was "more wolf than dog: 60% wolf and 40% dog". [2] The AAALI gives an average percentage of wolf content at around 30-35%. [31]
In 2007, a group of ecologists from Piedmont, with backing from the Anti-Vivisection League (Lega Anti Vivisezione; LAV), commissioned the Turin chamber of commerce to start an investigation into the genetic profile of the Lupo Italiano. The resulting analyses indicated that there was no wolf content in the breed, prompting the LAV to request the Prodi administration to suspend all funds to the ETLI. Apart from the breed's lack of wolf content, the regional councillor of the ecologists cited Messi's exclusive access to the breed's official registry, which apparently contained irregularities on the number of matings and births. [27] [32] [28]
In 2017, a further genetic study undertaken by the universities of Milan, Messina, Sassari and Bologna, in collaboration with the Human Genome Project, analysed 142,840 single-nucleotide polymorphisms of 1,609 canids, among which were seven Italian wolves and 263 dogs of Italian origin, including 24 samples of Lupo Italiano provided by the AAALI. Although the study confirmed that the Lupo Italiano is closely related to the German Shepherd, it could not find any significant haplotype sharing between it and the Italian wolf. [33]
Roberto Formigoni is a former Italian politician born in Lecco, Italy. He was the President of Lombardy from 1995 to 2013. He is the former unofficial political spokesperson of the Communion and Liberation movement.
The Viareggio Prize is an Italian literary prize, first awarded in 1930. Named after the Tuscan city of Viareggio, it was conceived by three friends, Alberto Colantuoni, Carlo Salsa and Leonida Rèpaci, to rival the Milanese Bagutta Prize.
The Bergamasco Shepherd, Italian: Cane da Pastore Bergamasco, is an Italian breed of sheepdog. It originated in the Alpi e Prealpi Bergamasche, where it was used as a herding dog for both sheep and cattle.
The Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdog,, also called Maremmano, the Maremma Sheepdog or Abruzzese Sheepdog, and Cane da Pastore Abruzzese or Pastore Abruzzese is an Italian breed of livestock guardian dog. It is frequently described as a “gentle giant” due to its large size and passive and gentle nature. It is indigenous to central Italy and northern areas of Southern Italy, particularly to Abruzzo and to the Maremma region of Tuscany and Lazio. It has been used for centuries by Italian shepherds to guard sheep from wolves. The literal English translation of the name is "shepherd dog of the Maremma and Abruzzo". The English name of the breed derives from that of the Maremma marshlands where, until recently, shepherds, dogs and hundreds of thousands of sheep over-wintered, and where the dogs are still abundant although sheep-farming has decreased substantially. It is widely employed in Abruzzo, where sheep herding remains vital to the rural economy and the wolf remains an active and protected predator.
The Murgese horse originated in the Murge, Apulia area of Italy during the Spanish rule, and was developed from Barb and Arabian horses. They are a hardy breed that is used mainly for cross-country riding, although they have also been used for light draft work.
The Italian wolf, also known as the Apennine wolf, is a subspecies of the grey wolf native to the Italian Peninsula. It inhabits the Apennine Mountains and the Western Alps, though it is undergoing expansion towards the north and east. As of 2022 the wolf population within Italy is estimated to be 3,307 individuals. Although not universally recognised as a distinct subspecies, it nonetheless possesses a unique mtDNA haplotype and a distinct skull morphology.
The Greens Greens is a liberal-environmentalist political party in Italy. The party is predominantly active in Piedmont.
The Segugio Italiano is either of two Italian breeds of dog of scent hound type, the wire-haired Segugio Italiano a Pelo Forte or the short-haired Segugio Italiano a Pelo Raso. Apart from the coat type, they are closely similar, and in some sources may be treated as a single breed; the Fédération Cynologique Internationale and the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana treat them as separate. They are also genetically close to the other two Italian scent hound breeds, the Segugio Maremmano and the Segugio dell'Appennino. They are traditionally used for hunting hare, but may also be used in boar hunts.
The Italian Heavy Draft, or Rapid Heavy Draft, is a breed of draft horse from Italy. The full Italian name of the breed is Cavallo Agricolo Italiano da Tiro Pesante Rapido, "Italian Rapid Heavy Draft Farm Horse", and the abbreviation TPR ) is often used.
Ignazio Benito Maria La Russa is an Italian politician who is serving as President of the Senate of the Republic since 13 October 2022. He is the first politician with a neo-fascist background to hold the position of President of the Senate, the second highest-ranking office of the Italian Republic.
The Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana, usually known as the ENCI, is the national organisation responsible for the recognition, standardisation and registration of pedigree dogs in Italy. It is sometimes called the Italian Kennel Club.
The Cavallo Romano della Maremma Laziale, or "Roman horse of the part of the Maremma that is in Lazio", is a horse breed native to the Lazio region of Italy. An ancient breed, it was officially recognised only in 2010; it is now one of the fifteen indigenous horse "breeds of limited distribution" listed by the AIA, the Italian breeders' association. The Lazio region has assigned it the conservation status "at risk of erosion". The population numbers about 800, of which most are in the comune of Monte Romano in the province of Viterbo; a herd of approximately 200 is at Ponzano Romano in the province of Rome, and others are in the province of Rieti.
The Sarcidano, Italian: Cavallo del Sarcidano, is a rare Italian breed of semi-feral horse originating from the Altopiano del Sarcidano in the comune of Laconi, in Oristano Province of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. It is one of the fifteen indigenous horse "breeds of limited distribution" recognised by the AIA, the Italian breeders' association.
Duccio Tessari was an Italian director, screenwriter and actor, considered one of the fathers of Spaghetti Westerns.
The Podolica is a breed of domestic cattle from southern Italy. It belongs to the Podolic group of grey cattle. It is raised in the regions of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise and Puglia. It was formerly distributed throughout most of mainland Italy and as far as Istria, now part of Croatia, and where it is now regarded as a separate breed, the Istrian or Boškarin. The Podolica was in the past bred principally as a draught animal; with the mechanisation of agriculture following the Second World War demand for draught oxen disappeared, and the Podolica is now raised for meat and, to a lesser extent, for milk.
Us with Italy is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Italy. NcI started as a federation of minor centre-right parties and, as such, was part of the centre-right coalition in the 2018 general election. Along with Forza Italia, NcI represented the coalition's "centrist" wing and supported Silvio Berlusconi or another "centrist" candidate as Prime Minister. Originally, the federation's full name was Us with Italy – UDC for its alliance with the Union of the Centre.
Maurizio Mian is an Italian entrepreneur and pharmaceutical heir who is the CEO of The Gunther Corporation. A noted eccentric, Mian has often used his dog Gunther as a figurehead for his investments in sports clubs, property and media. For publicity purposes Mian promulgated a long-running urban legend of his fabulously wealthy dynasty of German shepherd dogs, all called Gunther. The Gunther dogs frequently appear on published lists of the world's wealthiest animals.