The body of a wolf killed by bullets was found early Friday, September 24, hanged in front of the town hall of the village of Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur (Hautes-Alpes), said the prosecutor of Gap, Florent Crouhy.
The body of the animal, hung from a cord, was accompanied by a banner proclaiming "
Wake up, it is already too late
", added the prosecutor to AFP, confirming information from regional media.
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“
Blood was oozing from underneath the animal, indicating that she had just been killed fairly recently.
She was shot dead but we do not yet know under what circumstances and with what caliber.
There will be an autopsy soon,
”he said.
"
The fact of not only poaching
a protected species
but of putting it in such a staging, it is the first time
", he also noted.
The subject of the wolf, "omnipresent" in the region
The act was immediately described as "
inadmissible
" by the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili.
“
No act of intimidation will make it possible to find lasting solutions to the cohabitation of humans and wolves.
The vast majority of players are working in this direction,
”she added.
He also angered animal rights associations.
The investigation for destruction of a protected species was opened by the prosecution and was entrusted to the research brigade of the gendarmerie of Gap in co-referral with the French biodiversity office.
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Attacks on the wolf have already occurred in the past but they retain a "
fortunately exceptional
" character, noted the prosecutor.
However, "
the subject of the wolf is omnipresent in the Hautes-Alpes department
", a pastoralism territory, he stressed.
Anger of associations
The association for the defense of large predators Ferus judged in a press release that it was "
the normal outcome of the impunity granted to the atrocities and violence perpetrated for so many years by anti-wolves and anti-bears. .
The public authorities are as responsible as those who killed and hanged this wolf,
”she said.
Another association, One Voice, deplores that “
in the Hautes-Alpes, the gray wolves (are) welcomed since their return on national soil as outcasts to be eliminated by a fringe of the population.
Certain armed groups of poachers, even, do not hesitate to massacre them outright
”.
The two associations announced that they would file a complaint.
