Matteo Zeni

Matteo Zeni

Matteo Zeni has been a Forestry Corps officer of the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italian Alps) since 2017. He works in the Large Carnivores Division of the Wildlife Service, where he focuses on the prevention and management of conflicts between humans and brown bears/wolves.

Matteo Zeni has been a Forestry Corps officer of the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italian Alps) since 2017. He works in the Large Carnivores Division of the Wildlife Service, where he focuses on the prevention and management of conflicts between humans and brown bears/wolves. He is part of the Emergency Team and the Capture Team. From 2002 to 2016 he was a Park Ranger at the Adamello Brenta Nature Park (Trento, Italy), the protected area that reintroduced the brown bear in the Central Alps (EU Project Life Ursus, 1999-2004), mainly focusing on monitoring bears in the field and communication. In 2016 he published the book “In nome dell’orso” (In the Name of the Bear) which tells the story of the decline and return of the brown bear in the Alps and analyzes the following conflicts and challenges. The book was reprinted in 2024, in an updated version with a new title, “L’orso e noi” (The Bear and Us). He lives in a village at the foot of the Brenta Dolomites with Linda and his children Rebecca and Martin.

When he’s not dealing with people who are somehow angry at bears and wolves, he’s outdoors with his kids, playing with backcountry skis, bicycles or trail running shoes, searching for signs of bear presence in the woods or reading good books.