To respond to the concerns of breeders, and in the face of the increase in the number of wolves in France, a fifth national wolf plan was presented today in Lyon. We asked the opinion of the expert on this animal species, Professor Farid Benhammou. He recalls that “the wolf does not systematically and mainly attack livestock. But it can do so. It is an animal which is opportunistic”.
With his “plan loup” 2024-2029, unveiled this Monday, the government intends to ensure better protection of herds. The text also includes new provisions, considered alarming by animal rights activists. In a difficult exercise, the executive is trying to reconcile the conservation of the species with the rescue of pastoralism and livestock farming.
This plan brings 42 new measures. Among the main ones is the change in the status of the wolf, moving it from an extremely protected species to a protected species.
This point responds to a strong demand from breeders and allows the possibility of having two shooters, or even three in exceptional circumstances.
Furthermore, cub scouts will no longer be required to provide lighting before the shots, and will be authorized to use thermal glasses whatever the shot.
Finally, night vision equipment will be authorized for breeders and hunters.
The wolf plan also provides for an increase in the levy rate over the period 2024-2029 with the possibility of moving to a ceiling of 21% of levies compared to 19% currently.
The plan relies on a budget of 2.5 million euros over 5 years to finance research on means of protecting herds and promises better consideration of indirect damage suffered by breeders due to attacks, with compensation guaranteed within 125 days maximum.
For their part, the defenders of the wolves disapprove. The France Environnement association talks about a plan “unbalanced, opening up numerous possibilities for destroying wolves with little damage”.
A wolf, photographed in Mercantour, in October 2006 (Illustration). • © VALERY HACHE / AFP
Farid Benhammou, professor of geography in preparatory classes and associated researcher at the Ruralities laboratory at the University of Poitiers, specializes in this question of wolves. He gave us his opinion on the measures announced:
Farid Benhammou : “The national plan has positive points, but I think it also has negative points. On the one hand, it perpetuates the necessary protection measures, officially the protection of the wolf, but in my opinion does not really highlight the best solutions. Facilitating firing is highlighted and even if it can provide temporary relief, it is not at all a lasting solution because already setting up effective firing in an area of plains and plateau like ours, this is not the case. It’s not easy. And while waiting to kill the wolf, it will continue to do damage. And then when you kill a wolf, that doesn’t mean that a few days, a few weeks, a few months later, another one won’t arrive.
“We must primarily work on psychological support for breeders to cope with this new development, and organize the protection of sheep herds.
Farid Benhammou : “The large populations of wolves are currently in the Alps, in the Massif Central. Wolves are a sedentary species when they are in packs, in socio-constituted groups, so wolves cannot proliferate in an area. But when there is reproduction , young individuals leave and they can travel 50 to 80 km per 24 hours, therefore several hundred kilometers in a few days. So this means that at present, all of France can be colonized by the wolf.
“The wolf does not systematically and mainly attack livestock. But it can do so. It is an animal that is opportunistic. When it is in a pack, it will tend to attack wild fauna , including when he is alone. But if there are domestic animals in his area and they are accessible, he can attack these animals.
“However, in Vienne, Haute-Vienne and Charente, we have a very high density of sheep. So it is an area that can be tense. Especially since the farming methods are breeding in lots, scattered, in the open air and not necessarily easy to protect. This is why we absolutely must rely on experimentation, experiment with fences, guarding methods, experiment with protection dogs best suited to this presence of wolf which is possible.”
Farid Benhammou : “Often wrongly in the press, we see that we are talking about counting wolves. Currently, there are 1,100 wolves being assessed. As much as the packs formed are easy to identify. Dispersing individuals, like those I described, are difficult to identify. What you need to know is that they can be present anywhere in France.
“We can have more elements when naturalists, hunters, breeders are associated, in particular by a network which is managed by the French national biodiversity office which sets up photo traps, cameras in strategic places of passage. There, we can have elements and better know the possible passages.”
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