Panic in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
The French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) revealed on Thursday February 16 that a wolf had threatened a man earlier this week, near the town of Castellet-lès-Sausses, reported our colleagues from TF1 and Provence
.
.
This is the “
first case of encounter recorded in France since the return of the wolf in the early 1990s
”, explains the OFB in a report.
Monday, our colleagues from
Provence
had reported the testimony of Joseph Uto, municipal councilor of Castellet-lès-Sausses, who would have noted the presence of five wolves 200 meters from him, near a canal three kilometers from the village.
“
I shouted to scare them.
Instead of running away, they came down to me.
They started to growl.
My adrenaline skyrocketed.
I threw stones at them which did not scare them away
,” he said, indicating that a “
large female
” had “
charged him several times
.”
The meeting lasted nearly thirty minutes.
The predators then fled, without causing injury to the chosen one.
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The OFB calls not to worry
Two OFB agents were dispatched to the scene to collect the testimony of Joseph Uto.
In a report published shortly after, the organization confirms the meeting.
“
The very particular configuration of the places appears as the explanation of this exceptional event,
he writes.
(It occurred) on a particularly rugged slope, with a single path which limits the possibilities of escape for an animal.
“The”
large female
“on the other hand did not “
sought to bite, nor to throw herself on the person
”, it is indicated.
The OFB also calls not to worry: “
In such a singular configuration and without the possibility of escape, a wolf, like any large wild mammal, can present a dangerous attitude in the event of an encounter.
The prefecture, for its part, announced a strengthening of surveillance in the sector.
Read alsoThe death of a wolf in Seine-et-Marne confirmed by expert reports
Wolves are ever more numerous in France, with a population estimated by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) at 921 in 2022. Disappeared from France in 1930, the wolf has made a comeback on its own, in early 1990s, returning via the Alps.
