They will imitate the cry of the wolf to learn more about the presence of a possible pack in the Larzac. Agents from the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) are mobilizing this Thursday evening for the third time this summer for a rather special operation: imitate the wolf and listen for answers. This empirical method may make you smile, but it is the only one known to date and it has proven itself in the Alps.
Since the discovery of the corpse of a cub in mid-July, everyone wants to know more. This cub was found by a farmer near the Shores (who has since been the subject of numerous threats from all sides, pro and anti-wolf), a skinny baby wolf full of parasites, nothing very surprising, 40% of the wolf cubs do not pass the first year. Analyzes are underway to find out if it is the baby of the wolf already spotted on the Larzac, the experts have already found hairs from this female and therefore have her DNA.
The agents want to know if a pack has formed on the Larzac, it would be a first in this region
This Thursday evening the agents of the biodiversity office, but also hunters, breeders, gendarmes and elected officials, a good fifty people are therefore going for the third time, to take construction cones and shout to imitate the wolf . The idea is to know if there is a respondent, if other Cubs were born in the spring. The first 2 operations did not make it possible to determine it. It must be done quickly because by October, the baby wolf will have an adult cry, we will no longer be able to distinguish it from that of its mother, for example. If the presence of a pack is proven, it would be the first on the west side of the Rhône.
In the Hérault we know with certainty that there are two wolves on the Larzac, one on the Carroux but which only attacks wild game and a last one on the Somail Espinouse massif on the border with the Tarn. The presence of a possible pack on the Larzac worries breeders, regularly hit by wolf attacks.
I understand the dismay of breeders, but we must also respect European law
The state finances the purchase of fences or the purchase of Patou dogs to protect themselves, the prefecture authorized reinforced firesupervised by sworn wolf hunters, but even if they are compensated during the attacks, some farmers are very hard-hit. “On the Larzac or on the Espinouse we have an attack every two months. I sometimes meet breeders in distress because even if they are compensated, they do not start breeding to receive compensation from the State. They don’t all want to be accompanied by Patou dogs, because these dogs are also sometimes dangerous. The situation is difficult for them” explains Eric Suzanne, the sub-prefect of Lodève. “I understand their dismay but we are also under the constraint of European laws, the wolf remains a protected species. “
On the side of the defenders of the wolf, we regret that breeders participate in these operations of tracking the pack. “They will know for sure where the wolves are and will not hesitate to go and eliminate them themselves” worries Christian Perrenot of the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals, who recalls that a wolf spotted in 2016 near Rives has not given any sign of life for 4 years. He remains convinced that she was killed. He also regrets that locally, the municipalities do not take advantage of this windfall of having a wolf on the Larzac “in Italy, photographers pay to afford shots of wolves in the wild, for tourism, this is excellent news”
The subject of the wolf remains sensitive and almost taboo. We had scheduled a report with the agents of the biodiversity office this Thursday evening on this operation to spot baby wolves on the Larzac plateau, but everything was canceled, decision taken at the highest level. A little transparency, however, would avoid the fantasies and rumors that run about the Larzac.