Three days before the opening of the Agricultural Show, Minister Marc Fesneau announced that the protocols for shooting wolves threatening herds will be “simplified” this week. A measure considered “too late” by certain breeders and “worrying” for environmental defense associations.
The measure was supposed to help appease farmers, but it ultimately won over no one. This Wednesday, February 21, the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau announced that the protocol governing the shooting of wolves threatening herds will be “simplified“via a published decree”by the end of the week“, “in accordance“to what was demanded”many breeders“.
Three days before the opening of the Agricultural Show, the minister is trying to extinguish the embers which are beginning to reignite all over the country. A decree should be published during the week to calm the anger which followed the announcement of the “wolf plan” for the period 2024-2029, both among breeders and among environmental defense associations. But this new measure seems to have reassured neither camp.
Marc Fesneau declared that a “definitive version” of this wolf plan was presented this Tuesday, February 20. In its initial version, it already provided for a simplification of the shooting protocols intended to kill wolves attacking flocks, by eliminating, for example, the obligation for wolf scouts – officially responsible for manage the regulation of harmful species – to illuminate the animal before shooting.
Another possibility considered:Have two shooters on simple defense shooting or even three exceptionally after authorization from the prefect“But the representatives of the breeders of the majority union FNSEA wanted a “radical evolution of the shooting protocol” to reduce the lupine population.
After the announcement of this measure, the National Sheep Federation (FNO) prefers to wait to know its contours. “There is progress and positive things (….) we remain cautious, but These announcements are going in the right direction. indicated Michèle Boudoin, president of the FNO to AFP. She must be received in the afternoon to look into the “details” of text.
But this new simplification does not seem to convince everyone. Sheep breeder in Lans-en-Vercors in Isère, Pascal Ravix takes care of 700 sheep on the plateau. During each summer pasture, his herd suffers several attacks. Last year, the wolf got the better of around fifty of his sheep. For him, the measure comes like a hair in the soup:
“It is perhaps to buy social peace because it is not because you have a shooting authorization that you will get your head above water. […] This may be useful in areas where wolves are just starting to settle in, but for us it’s too late!“
Having lived in the Vercors for 22 years, Pascal Ravix finds himself powerless every year in the face of the arrival of the predator. Despite its means of protection put in place with guards, protection dogs and even the night park, its herd is the target of attacks every year.
“We have learned to live with it because we have no other choice. Today, there are at least 11 packs in the Vercors, which means between 40 and 50 wolves in spring and up to 100 wolves in autumn.“, explains the breeder. To deal with this, Pascal Ravix would like to have the means to frighten them or shoot them down if they attack with, for example, equipment and authorization to carry out night-time shooting.
After disappearing for a while in France, the wolf reappeared in the early 1990s crossing the Alps from Italy. In 2022, breeders reported more than 12,000 animals attacked. A reason why the initial version of the 2024-2029 wolf plan had offended the unions.
Environmental defense associations also slammed the door on negotiations with the government at the end of last year. And at the end of the press conference of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, and Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture, this Wednesday February 21, they say to themselves “disappointed” And “worried“.
The Haute-Savoie Bird Protection League denounces this measure to simplify shooting. “Until now, you needed a wolf attack position to shoot. From now on, they will no longer do defensive shooting but sampling shooting where we will shoot wolves like we shoot game. It’s not acceptable !” alarms Jean-Claude Louis, wolf referent of LPO 74.
For the member of the association, the solution lies in the means of protection and the State aid schemes granted to them: “If we reduce their number, it will be a danger for biodiversity. This is worrying and not the solution. We must protect these herds. With electrified parks, for example, herds are rarely or never attacked.“
The general director of the LPO, Cédric Marteau, declared to AFP, “think about ways to counter“the new wolf plan and the government decree, including through legal channels.
For her part, the prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region received this Wednesday the members of the National Loup Group in order to “to discuss the directions of the future plan“, indicated the prefecture in a press release. A new plan “concerned with the preservation of extensive and pastoral livestock farming” was thus revealed.
This will allow, according to the prefecture, “better anticipation of the predator in the territories, increased support in the deployment of means of protection as well as better consideration of the social and economic impacts of the damage caused“.
Concretely, the prefect announced an upward revaluation of “11 to 32-33%“scales of compensation for losses to breeders following attacks on their herds.