The staging is macabre.
It is around seven o'clock this Friday morning when the cleaning lady who comes to maintain the premises of the town hall of Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur (Hautes-Alpes) is startled.
In front of her, on the forecourt of the town hall of this town of 2000 inhabitants at the gates of the Ecrins National Park, a wolf still in the process of bleeding is hung by the front paw.
Near the corpse of the animal, visibly shot dead, "a banner with the inscription
Awake, it's already too late
was hung", indicates the prosecutor of the Republic of Gap, Florent Crouhy.
The beast was poached, it is not a sampling shot, specifies the Dauphiné Libéré.
An investigation for "destruction of protected animal" was opened.
"It was entrusted to the research brigade of the Gendarmerie of Gap, cosise with the French Office for Biodiversity, which provides technical support and specific scientific insight", explains Florent Crouhy in La Provence.
Up to 3 years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros
The technicians of the gendarmes of the criminal identification were dispatched on the spot to search for possible clues such as DNA on the banner for example. “Wolves killed outside the legal framework have already been found in the past, in the mountains or along the road, but here we are in an act of demand. Such a staging remains exceptional, ”notes the prosecutor. However, "the subject of the wolf is omnipresent in the Hautes-Alpes department", a pastoralism territory, he stressed.
The body of the wolf will be autopsied, in particular to know the caliber of the bullet which killed her.
Investigators will also try to use the video surveillance images.
France 3 reports that during the first acts of the investigations, the soldiers tried to hide this shocking image from the eyes of the inhabitants of the town of 2,000 inhabitants.
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The perpetrator (s) incur penalties of up to 3 years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros.
According to regional television, "this staging comes in a tense context in the region with in particular the opening of the trial this Monday in Gap of the breeder, including the sheepdog, is accused of having bitten hikers".
The mayor of the town declined to comment, while receiving, this Friday, the representatives of the sub-prefecture for an inauguration.
This is an act "absolutely unacceptable", for her part was indignant Minister Pompili on Twitter.
“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.
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Cited by France 3, the farmers' unions considered that it was an “act of despair because the Haut-Alpins breeders are pushed to the limit.
It is the result of the non-consideration by the public authorities, the State of the working conditions and the problems which the breeders must face ”.
In recent weeks, they have seen the reinforced defense fire withdrawn.
The breeders did not condemn this violent action, assures France 3.
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.
