A gray wolf (canis lupus) has been observed twice this week in Haute-Vienne, for the first time in more than a century, the prefecture announced on Friday (December 3rd) in a press release.
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A large canine was observed Wednesday in Champagnac-la-Rivière, in the south-west of the department, and a second report, "
probably of the same animal
", was made the next day in Ladignac-le-Long, about twenty kilometers from Champagnac, explained the prefecture. "
The French Biodiversity Office (OFB) quickly validated the first report as being very probably a gray wolf
", she added, specifying that if the meeting of a wolf in Haute-Vienne was "
a first for over a century
”, it was“
not surprising
”.
The species, protected in France and in Europe, "
is known for its great dispersal capacity
", especially in autumn and early winter when "
the young born in spring fully take their place within the group, forcing other individuals to leave the pack to seek new territory
”. The latter can then "
travel several hundred kilometers before settling
", according to a system of colonization by "
leaps
". The wolf was thus observed at the end of November in Calvados and a corpse found at the end of October in Loire-Atlantique, for the first time in a century. Earlier this year it was seen in Vendée and Vienne, again for the first time in a hundred years.
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In New Aquitaine, the presence of the wolf has been proven in Dordogne since 2015 and permanent since 2018 in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
It has also been observed occasionally recently in Corrèze, Charente-Maritime, Charente, Creuse and Vienne.
Since its reappearance in the Southern Alps in 1992 from Italy, it has been identified in regions as far away as Lorraine or Burgundy, but its presence remains concentrated in the Alpine and Provençal massifs.
According to the OFB, the gray wolf population is growing in France with an estimated total of 624 adult individuals at the end of winter 2021 against 580 a year earlier.