Culture: Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf ?

Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf ?

The Wolf Management Plan in France
The age-old debate about the presence of wolves continues

The historical tensions between farmers and wolves continue to worsen. On December 12, the French Ministries of Ecology and Agriculture released the new Wolf Management Plan, which will run until 2023. The hundred-page report will guide actions on the ground, aiming to « ensure the long-term conservation of wolves while taking into account the distress of farmers ». The Plan also lays down hunting conditions and specifies the numbers of canids to be culled each year.

Wolves were totally eliminated in France in the 1930’s. Sixty years later, they returned from Italy via the Mercantour National Park, in the southern Alps, gradually colonizing a larger and larger territory. Wolves feed mostly on hoofed mammals, but also hunt domestic animals, finding ways around the protections that farmers put in place. They play an essential role in balancing the ecosystem : by preying on deer and other cervids, they prevent excessive damage to vegetation, allowing the return of certain insect and bird species

But the cohabitation of sheep breeders and wolves seems impossible. Torn between anger and the feeling of being misunderstood, farmers consider the presence of wolves as an additional burden in today’s difficult economic conditions.

deplores Thierry, a breeder in the Vercors. Starting in 2018, farmers will have to prove they used at least two protective methods, including dogs, fences, herding animals at night, or active shepherding, in order to be compensated for the loss of their animals. However, some breeders consider this futile. « The more we protect our flock, the cleverer they become,» says Fanny. «I feel like I’m living in Alcatraz, or in a ghetto.»

Since 2004, the French government has authorized the culling of a certain number of wolves each year; 40 were culled between 2017 and 2018. This threshold will be increased to 10% of the wolf population starting in 2019.

«The Ministry’s management plan has no ecological or biological virtue. Furthermore, it’s inefficient, because you never know if the wolf that was shot is the one that caused the damage,» says Pierre Peyret, vice-president of the association Férus, which works to defend and reintroduce natural predators in France. Hunting wolves breaks down packs, and endangers the survival and reproduction of the species. That’s why it’s necessary to move towards a smart way of culling wolves, by understanding their hunting methods. An effective solution could be «non-lethal scaring». As Pierre Peyret explains, «We must teach wolves not to interfere with farms. A dead wolf is a wolf who has learnt nothing.»