I wonder who benefits from the valuable research of our beloved Darwin or Lorenz?
Certainly not the people who govern us, nor their electoral accomplices.
Once again, France’s favourite scapegoat, among others, is accused of causing damage in the Alpes Maritimes, the same region that has not changed its habits since the wolf’s return in the 1990s.
Yet they have had time to take safety measures, since the wolf has been annoying them to death.
To this day, nothing has been done to change that. Why is this?
Money problems perhaps?
We could try to envisage abolishing this premium, in order to check whether the safety measures will be taken once and for all by the breeders – they know how to protect a herd, it’s their job after all, isn’t it?
Here are a few examples of safety measures paid for by the state:
- Electrically-powered protective pens are a quick and easy way of keeping a herd together at night. A compact unit is less vulnerable to attack and dispersal.
- Protection dogs: Patou, Tibetan Mastiff, Anatolian Shepherd, Kuvasz, etc. Dog breeds with dominant characteristics, generally very dissuasive in the event of an approaching predator.
- Shepherd’s helpers: The presence of humans near a herd is recognised as a factor limiting wolf/cattle interactions. Shepherd’s helpers are mainly present during high-risk periods (night and bad weather), when the herds are gathered together, and when the parks are set up and dismantled at night, all of which is subsidised by the LIFE programme.
- Frightening methods or fladeries, consisting of the emission of sound or visual signals (use of a visual flash or triggering of a siren when a predator approaches the night assembly pen). However, I would point out that fladeries are not effective in the long term.
It’s all about motivation, passion and respect. You have to learn to prevent, to anticipate damage. There is still too little or too little use of protective measures.
Accepting the means of protection means accepting the return of the wolf, which has a legitimate place in France
With regard to the article dated 14 April 2015 in the Nice-Matin newspaper, hasty conclusions have been drawn:
« It is time to acknowledge the incompatibility between the presence of this large predator, the wolf, and human activity in our region« , wrote the Mayor of Nice in a press release.
« Although the Prefect authorises the organisation of drives in certain parts of the country, it has to be said that this regulation is still not sufficient. I am therefore once again asking the Prefect to take the necessary measures to allow hunters and shepherds more latitude in shooting wolves, particularly at stalking and stalking, in all the communes in the department affected by the attacks, in order to effectively regulate this population. Without effective measures, our shepherds will disappear« .
In response to the Mayor of Nice, I would say that education and instruction measures concerning land management actions that respect the biological constraints of wolves, and the development of economic and educational activities around the wolf, would be necessary in order to get to know this predator a little better. This would also be an alternative measure that could ensure peaceful cohabitation between humans and wolves through knowledge of this species.
That way, our shepherds won’t disappear and neither will our wolves.
However, I would like to remind you that you should not shoot an Alpha wolf, as this would unbalance a pack.
I’d like to finish by also pointing out that most of these attacks are carried out by stray dogs. This is the case again this year. Compulsory laws should be introduced to educate people about the life and functioning of wild and domestic species, rather than laws that destroy nature and its inhabitants a little more every day.
Let’s try to raise our sights a little!
Artificial intelligence translation of an original text by Sandrine Devienne
Click here to read the French version
Update 16/08/2023: Eight years on, the article has unfortunately lost none of its relevance.
association Le Klan du Loup