While the number of wolf attacks on herds has increased from 984 in 2010 to 3,730 in 2020, the Lozère prefecture has decided to authorize for the first time “sampling shots” to kill a wolf in the event of an attack. Here are five figures that reveal the extent of the wolf crisis that has lasted for ten years.
A mobilization under tension to confront the wolves. Nearly 200 protesters gathered this Monday, September 26, in Mendez in Lozère to warn of the multiple wolf attacks that have been recorded in recent weeks in the region.
“Fear must change sides! The wolf, an intelligent creature, manages without difficulty to get past the defenses set up by breeders, even the most elaborate ones. By making all pack attacks deadly dangerous, you will understand their interest in being happy with wildlife. The point of no return has been reached,” denounced the Departmental Federation of Farmers’ Unions (Fdsea) Lozère in a .
After a turbulent day in which police used tear gas to prevent breeders from bringing a herd of sheep into a building where a meeting of the “large predators committee” was taking place, the Lozère prefect announced that he had authorized “shooting shot” against the “wolves that kill cattle”. “For the first time in Lozère, groups of “organized” hunters will be able to carry out “sample shots” to kill a wolf, a measure that goes beyond the simple “defense shot” already authorized to defend their herd during an attack, announced the prefect of the department Philippe Castanet.
The decision of the prefect of Lozère delighted Fdsea. However, “this confirmation demonstrates, once again, that the wolves are permanently installed in our territory of Lozère and announces that there are still other steps to be taken to achieve the objective of ‘zero attack’ in the department”, points out the union of professional farmers.
Because indeed, this point of tension does not date from yesterday and returns periodically in the news. Recently, near Marseille, in Penne-sur-Huveaune, a breeder found 12 of his dead sheep. Quickly, the trace of an attack carried out by a[…]