On the evening of the second day of research launched in the Agly valley (Pyrénées-Orientales), two runaway wolves had still not been located in the Cases-de-Pène sector.
As early as Monday morning, the management of the Ecozonia animal park had alerted the authorities to the disappearance of six wolves, without being able to explain how the fugitives had been able to leave the wire-fenced and fenced enclosure dedicated to them.
The prefecture has therefore requested a technical expertise from the management of Ecozonia and further specifies that: "any new introduction of animals is suspended pending an assessment of the safety of the installations"
Without waiting, the agents of the Office of biodiversity and the gendarmes of various brigades of the company of Rivesaltes, supported by a drone, launched beatings.
It was only at the end of the day, between dog and wolf therefore, that, this Monday, four of the escaped canines were spotted and neutralized.
No particular panic in the village
Two of these wolves were shot after the Pyrenees-Orientales prefecture gave its agreement for shooting day and night.
Two other wolves were anesthetized to be placed in cages inside Ecozonia, an animal park still under construction whose opening to the public was initially scheduled for mid-February.
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It is in this park that the wolves had just arrived, Saturday, from the national park of Riga (Latvia) to lead a life in semi-freedom in an enclosure, in the middle of a semi-wooded park. of 26 hectares dedicated to the discovery of predatory animals (bears, lynx, tigers, raptors).
Until late Tuesday evening, patrols continued in the vicinity of Cases-de-Pène, hilly and semi-wooded areas, where the local population lives this hunt without particular panic.
In the village, since Monday, the notion of curfew has taken on its full meaning.