The number of gray wolves in France is constantly increasing.
In the Alps, packs criss-cross the mountains.
And many lone wolves criss-cross France in search of new territories in which to settle.
Was the forest of Fontainebleau chosen in turn by large canids?
An animal was hit last Wednesday by a vehicle on departmental 607. A witness to the accident tells
La République de Seine-et-Marne
.
"
I was coming back from the shopping center and I was about to overtake a vehicle when it was hit by an animal,
" Marc Rogowski told the local newspaper
.
I stopped to check on the driver who was in shock.
Once secured, I approached the animal which I initially thought was a doe
”.
Read the fileThe great return of the wolf to France
Quickly, the motorist notices that the animal is a large canine which perfectly resembles, at first sight, a wolf.
Rounded ears, short tail: certain criteria are not wrong.
The canine was handed over to the French Office for Biodiversity, which is to conduct genetic analyses.
Their results are expected within the week.
Pending the conclusion of these analyzes and after "
a careful examination of the images, the stature of the animal, the size of its legs and that of its teeth suggest a strong suspicion of a wolf
", indicates for its part the prefecture of department.
Wolfdog breeds
However, it could be a Czechoslovakian wolfdog, a breed resulting from a cross between a Carpathian wolf and a German Shepherd.
It could also be a Saarloos wolfdog, a breed that also originated from a German Shepherd and a European wolf.
These two races are very similar to the gray wolf physically and morphologically.
Except that the wolf has less contrasting coat, shorter tail and rounder ears.
Many reports had been made in recent years on the presence of wolves in the forest of Fontainebleau but so far no irrefutable evidence had confirmed this hypothesis.
If the DNA tests come to certify that the hit canine is indeed a gray wolf, can we say that the wolf has settled in Seine-et-Marne?
"
Most of the wolves in France are present throughout the Alps, the Jura and a large part of Provence
", explains to
Figaro
Olivier Guder, vice-president of the association FERUS, dedicated to the protection and conservation of bear, wolf and lynx in France.
“
They are settled in these territories in packs and reproduce there
”.
lone wolf
But a pack being limited in individuals, the young wolves leave their congeners around two years in search of a new territory where a pack is not already installed.
“
They can travel hundreds of kilometers in this way and are potentially everywhere in France
”, explains Olivier Guder.
Wolves have already been seen in Picardy, Normandy and even in Finistère.
"
Its presence is therefore not surprising in the forest of Fontainebleau
", continues the specialist.
For him, on the other hand, the wolf will not settle in the long term in this vast forest on the outskirts of the capital "
because it is too crowded, not quiet enough and the wolf needs wilder and more secret areas to reproduce
" .
.
In November 2021, a wolf was photographed in the Yvelines in the town of Blaru.
It had been thirty years since officially, no wolf had been seen in Ile-de-France.
The population of gray wolves in France is estimated at 921 individuals at the end of winter 2021-2022, against 783 the previous season, announced last June the prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
There are 128 packs in this population.
The wolf is not a threat to humans, also reminds Olivier Guder.
"
There are no documented cases of wolf attacks on the man in Western Europe since his return
."
People can therefore continue to walk in peace, unlike herds.