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Creuse: wolf attacks worry breeders

2022-01-25T16:10:53.931Z


FOCUS - Faced with repeated attacks on herds, a breeder called for shooting wolves, sparking controversy among conservationists.


Is the wolf standing there in the dark, ready to attack?

Every night, Pascal Lerousseau multiplies the rounds to watch over his 350 sheep.

His two sons and his wife sometimes take over from the breeder from Féniers (Creuse) with the herds.

Because the wolf attacks again in the region.

At the end of December, he struck several times on a neighboring farm.

Eight sheep died, the last of which were killed on the night of January 14 to 15.

The injured throat, the rolled skin, the flanks devoured without touching the inside of the belly: the wolf, according to the farmer, has left its mark.

Pascal Lerousseau hopes to scare the beast and protect his animals.

But like many farmers, he wishes he could go further, that is to say, shoot the animal.

Read alsoOn the trail of wolves in France

The controversy erupted on Sunday, when the Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Bérangère Abba, announced the opening of an investigation after the farmers' union Coordination Rurale called on breeders to shoot wolves

"without saying anything »

. “

For us, the solution is poison and lead. Farmers are invited to take their shotgun and kill the wolf without saying a word. You have to do this discreetly to make the corpses disappear. The Rural Coordination will reimburse the lead and the bag of lime

,

declared the president of the union Florian Tournade to France 3. The day before, the prefecture of Creuse had published an order authorizing the scaring shots practiced by five lieutenants of wolf hunting.

But the farmers themselves are calling for defensive fire.

However, killing a wolf, a species protected by the Bern Convention, is punishable by three years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros.

Ineffective protections?

“Scaring shots are ineffective.

The wolf hides, he does not stand still waiting to be frightened,

”annoys Christian Arvis, president of the FDSEA de la Creuse.

The prefecture may subsidize the purchase of patous

(sheepdogs, editor's note)

or the installation of electrified fences, the farmers remain skeptical.

“We are not in a mountain context with sheep moving around freely.

We already have fences with barbed wire,

” explains Christian Arvis.

“I have 270 hectares of land spread over four municipalities.

How do I monitor the entire area of ​​my farm?»

In the Creuse, the size of the herds also raises questions.

“We have too many herds here.

If I need one patou per herd, I should have 20 or 25 dogs to manage, feed and train.

It would be much too heavy financially and in terms of organization”

, objects Pascal Lerousseau.

"The wolf has no place in the region,"

he continues.

Arguments which the defenders of the environment do not taste.

Faced with the incitement of the president of Coordination Rurale to kill wolves, the environmental association One Voice indicated that it was filing a complaint for incitement

"to commit destruction of protected space".

Dispersion of packs

The wolf has been seen at least 5 times in Creuse since 2017, according to the French Office for Biodiversity, quoted by France bleu.

The last proven appearance dates from December 10.

The OFB concluded for the other attacks that the responsibility of the wolf was not excluded.

Since returning to the Alps in the early 1990s, the wolf has been sighted in many French regions, including Île-de-France and Normandy.

“Animals can appear anywhere in France.

The packs are sedentary, but when the number becomes too large, the young males disperse in search of new territory where to settle and they can cross several hundred kilometers

», explains Farid Benhammou, professor of geography in preparatory classes and associate researcher at the Ruralités laboratory of the University of Poitiers.

“Shooting wolves is a very short-term option: if there are no specimens in a territory, they will come back there,

continues Farid Behammou.

You have to learn to live with the wolf.

Protective measures don't always work, but do reduce the damage.

»


Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-01-25

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