His presentation took place on Monday, behind closed doors in Lyon (Rhône), in a tense climate.
Vagueness and unanimous discontent. New “wolf plan” unveiled by the government by 2024-2029 was judged “unacceptable” by defenders of the predator, but also strongly criticized by breeders. This text must represent a “turning” towards a “better balance” between protection of herds and conservation of this threatened species. There is urgency: this plan must replace the previous one, which expires at the end of the year.
>> View in a gif how the wolf set its paw on French territory
Its presentation by the prefecture of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region to members of the National Wolf Group (GNL), a consultative body bringing together representatives of the agricultural world, elected officials, shepherds, hunters, protected areas, administrations and nature protection associations, took place behind closed doors in Lyon, in a tense climate.
The plan, which is very technical and some elements of which remain to be finalized, notably provides for a prevention and management component of attacks with improved support for breeders. They are now given the opportunity to use night vision equipment to spot the animal without having to“enlighten”as was required until now.
It also provides for an overhaul of the current system of “counting” of the wolf, judged “very efficient but difficult to understand”. A new system will have to be developed with the aim of only publishing “only one figure per year”, compared to two currently. Work is also underway on the status of protection dogs stationed in mountain pastures.
The National Wolf Group “no longer has any meaning”
The plan is “unacceptable”judge the six environmental defense associations (France Nature Environnement (FNE), Ferus, Humanity and Diversity, the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO), the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals (Aspas) and the Fonds World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
“We have announced our definitive withdrawal from the National Wolf Group”, said Jean-David Abel, representative of the FNE, on behalf of this collective. “This consultative body no longer makes any sense. It is not new that the State listens to (the agricultural unions) FNSEA, FNO (National Sheep Federation, Editor’s note) and the chambers of agriculture, but at this level of imbalance, we said to ourselves ‘we’re useless’ so the State must take responsibility for this.”. “Their departure is regrettable. The door remains open and contacts will continue. The consultation process will continue”reacted the prefecture.
“Yawning gap”, according to breeders
Breeders, although supposed to be the main beneficiaries of this “rebalancing”, are hardly more enthusiastic. The plan “endorses the status quo and the distress of breeders for the next 5 years”protests the Peasant Confederation, which denounces the “There is a gaping gap between these announcements and the expectations and needs of breeders in the face of predation”.
“The State is trying to keep things simple and only makes people unhappy”declared for his part Claude Font, secretary general of the FNO in charge of the predation file. “We expected something more ambitious in favor of breeding”he commented, believing that “the only progress concerns the shooting protocols”.
After having disappeared for a time in France, the wolf reappeared in the early 1990s crossing the Alps from Italy, and its ranks gradually grew, to the great dismay of breeders who deplored more than 12,000 animals attacked in 2022. Number of Canis lupus surveying the territory was estimated at the beginning of September at 1,104 individuals. Up to 209 wolves can be killed in France this year, the authorized quota of 19%.