They had been there for a short day.
Four wolves arrived from Estonia in an animal park in the Pyrenees-Orientales escaped Monday from their enclosure in still unclear circumstances.
Two had to be shot "for security reasons" and two others were still actively sought Tuesday evening, indicate the Ecozonia park and the prefecture.
“Four wolves have escaped from their secure enclosure under conditions yet to be determined.
A detailed report has been requested to this effect from the operator and any new introduction of animals is suspended, ”wrote the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales on Tuesday evening in a press release.
One of the wolves was outside the park
"An important device was deployed to try to capture alive, by means of hypodermic guns" the four wolves.
"Despite our efforts and for security reasons, we were forced to shoot two of them," wrote Ecozonia in a statement on its Facebook page.
“There are always two that we are trying to locate,” explains park manager Cyril Vaccaro.
He was not able to specify whether these two wolves had left the perimeter of the animal park located in the town of Cases-de-Pène.
Agents from the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) took part in a hunt outside the site of the new 26-hectare animal park focused on predatory animals which was due to open in February.
According to the prefecture, one of the two wolves killed was outside the park.
The management of Ecozonia declined to give more information on the circumstances of the flight of the four wolves, among the six who arrived Sunday from a zoological park in Estonia.
