Between 2010 and 2021, the number of wolf attacks recorded by authorities tripled, from 1,081 to 3,359.
The government unveiled its new “wolf plan” on Monday, September 18.. The executive thus wishes to mark a “turning” towards a “better balance” between the preservation of the species and pastoralism. However, the positions seem irreconcilable between the supporters and the detractors of the wolf, in particular the breeders who denounce increasingly high losses in their herds, in particular in sheep and goat breeding. In 2021, 3,359 wolf attacks were recorded, causing 10,163 victims in herds, according to the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (Dreal).
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When a herd is attacked, an authorized agent from the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) or National Parks goes to the site to carry out an attack report, which is then examined by the Departmental Territorial Directorate. If the responsibility of the wolf is not ruled out, the breeders can receive compensation from the State.
Between 2010 and 2021, the number of wolf attacks noted by the authorities tripled, going from 1,081 to 3,359 attacks in eleven years. A figure that must be put into perspective with the wolf population. In 2010, there were 142 wolves in France; in 2021, this figure was multiplied by eight with 1,096 wolves recorded in France.
“These figures show that the protective measures are working, as they would undoubtedly have been higher without them.”, underlines geographer Farid Benhammou, specialist in the relationships between humans and large predators at the University of Poitiers. Human presence, reinforced surveillance, protection dogs and even the installation of fences ensure better protection of herds, according to Dreal.
But these measures are not always well deployed in the new areas where the wolf is established, which makes the herds there particularly vulnerable, points out the geographer. If attacks are increasing, it is in particular because wolves are expanding their area of presence. “When you are in a new colonization zone, at the beginning, the means of protection can take time to work. It takes two to three years before a protection dog is effective”explains the researcher.
Attacks concentrated in the South-East
These wolf attacks are mainly concentrated in the south-east of France. Among the departments most concerned, we find the Alpes-Maritimes and the Alpes-de-Hautes Provence, which correspond to the first areas of “regular” presence of wolves, according to the French Biodiversity Office.
In most areas which have experienced fewer than a hundred attacks over the last eleven years, these predations are recent, often after 2019. However, not all attacks are of the same magnitude: “Nationally, 75% of attacks cause the death of two sheep or less,” underlines the geographer.
In recent months, breeders have widely invoked these increasing attacks to call into question the cohabitation between man and wolves and obtain a relaxation of “shooting protocols”. For Farid Benhammou, this cohabitation is “possible and already existing”but the specialist believes that it is necessary to mobilize other means of protection that are too little deployed: “Without necessarily excluding fatal shots, proportionate measures are needed. For example, using non-lethal shots that scare away wolves.” In the meantime, the “wolf plan” presented on Monday, which runs over the period 2024-2029, provides for a possible increase in the ceiling if the wolf population continues to increase. With the current one, 19% of the estimated wolf population could be legally killed each year.