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France to send wolves to the slaughter in bid to save sheep flocks

The French government on Thursday gave the green light for the cull of dozens of wolves in mountainous areas where sheep are under sustained attack.

Published: 21 July 2017 11:32 CEST

France to send wolves to the slaughter in bid to save sheep flocks

Photo: AFP

Over 8,000 farm animals, mostly sheep, were killed in attacks blamed on wolves in the past year — mainly in the south-east of the country.

Farmers say that electric fences and fearsome dogs are powerless in the face of the predators and are demanding greater culls.

The government gave the green light for the slaughter of up to 40 wolves by July 2018 — unchanged from 2016/2017 — representing a little over 10 percent of France's growing wolf population.

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Photo: AFP

Once 32 wolves have been shot — usually during organised hunts — farmers are only allowed shoot a

wolf to thwart an imminent strike or end an attack that is already underway.

A further eight wolves can be killed in such circumstances.

Animal rights groups have called for an end to the culls, saying warning shots would suffice to scare off the hungry predators.

Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot said France needed to strike a balance between safeguarding wolves, a protected species in Europe, and protecting livestock.

Successive governments have, however, struggled to reconcile the competing

demands of the pro-wolf and pro-farm lobbies.

After being eradicated in the 1930s wolves crossed back into France from Italy in the 1990s.

They are now to be found in 30 of France's 101 “departements” or administrative areas.

France's wolf population rises once again

A woman holds an image of a wolf as people take part in a demonstration of several wildlife conservation associations, to protest against the hunting of wolves. AFP

The government has been allowing grey wolves to multiply despite fierce resistance from livestock owners, who say they are suffering from increased attacks on their flocks.

But this winter's increase was slower than the 23 percent jump seen the previous year, and “survival rates declined,” the OFB said, adding that the causes remained unknown.

Wolves were hunted to extinction in France by the 1930s, but gradually started reappearing in the 1990s as populations spread across the Alps from Italy.

Their numbers have grown rapidly in recent years, prompting authorities to allow annual culls to keep their numbers in check, though the predator remains a protected species.

READ ALSO: Where in France will you find wolves?

Under a “Wolf Plan” adopted in 2018, the “viability threshold” of 500 animals, the level at which the population is likely to avoid becoming at risk of extinction over a 100-year period, was not expected to be reached until 2023.

Wolves are increasingly spotted across French territory, from the Pyrenees mountains as far north as the Atlantic coastal regions near Dieppe.

But “there are still no packs formed outside the Alps and Jura,” the heavily forested region near the Swiss border, the agency said.

The numbers are far below those found in Italy, Romania or Poland, but they have nonetheless infuriated French farmers who say the wolves are decimating their flocks.

Last year, authorities registered 3,741 wolf attacks that led to the deaths of nearly 12,500 animals, mainly sheep.

The government offers compensation for the losses and has set up a range of measures to protect flocks, including patrols by “wolf brigades” in areas where traditional anti-wolf measures, such as dogs, fenced-off areas and
additional shepherding, have failed.

That has not been enough to assuage the powerful FNSEA agriculture lobby and other groups, which say they have to wait too long for compensation payments in the face of repeated attacks on their livelihood.

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