Eye on France: Wolf attack to bear face!

There is a problem with wolves in France, according to a leftist newspaper, Release. The population of French Gray Wolves was wiped out in the 1930s and came back slowly and naturally from Italy in the 1990s. But some say that there are now too many and are calling for reform.

Despite a quick installation of French returnees, the animal is still considered an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are currently 530 individual wolves living in France, 30 more than the limit set in the "Wolf Plan", which last year set the minimum number of viable people at 500.

The problem is that, although the protectors are happy, local farmers, especially those who let their sheep graze on alpine highland pastures, are less so, because wolves see sheep quite naturally as a dinner.

Faced with the increasing number of herd attacks, the French authorities have decided to increase the number of wolves that can be killed, from 12% last year to 19% in 2019 Environmental advocates say it would be too high and endanger survival. of a species allegedly protected.

Breeders are delighted to have already slaughtered 52 of the 53 animals allowed to be slaughtered under last year 's regulations. According to them, the increase, which will result in the death of 90 to 100 wolves, was an urgent necessity.

The State Council will be asked to rule on the death penalty

The pro-wolf lobby has therefore decided to ask the State Council, which draws up the administrative details of the French law, to cancel the increase in the number of death sentences pronounced.

Good green animal friends say that this level of slaughter will jeopardize the survival of the species. the State Council has already refused several previous requests to reduce the legal number of wolves to be slaughtered.

The director of the French League for the Protection of Birds (I do not mix my notes here for once, the birds are also fond of wolves) said that the government's policy was clearly to kill more and more wolves. And that there is no real effort to encourage peaceful coexistence between humans and predators.

"The numbers will not stand up to scientific scrutiny," says the man-bird. "We face a real risk that the wolf population will be eroded to an unreasonable level."

The problem is that "reasonable" means different things for the wildlife brotherhood and for the sheep farmers.

A final complicating factor is that rules for picking numbers are relaxed in some localities, including those that have had 15 or more attacks in the last 12 months.

The slaughterers think it's a fair reaction to the situation on the ground. The more you are attacked, the more you can defend yourself.

Unfortunately, wolves can not count and they do not respect the boundaries of the parishes.

The battle is far from over. And as for the war …
The politics of the empty chair
Change to The world, the problem is the bears.
Last week, 61 sheep fell from a cliff in the Pyrenees. Local farmers say that they were chased to death by a bear. Four weeks earlier, another bear would have been the unintentional killer of a herd of 250 sheep in a nearby community.

For the first time in 20 years, breeders boycotted the recent state presentation of new suggestions for a more stable relationship between sheep and sheep farmers.

For very different reasons, the green groups also boycotted the meeting, which meant that government officials found themselves talking in a room full of empty chairs.

Farmers think bears come out with murder; Environmentalists say the plan to scare some animals considered dangerous higher up in the mountains is cruel, unnatural and dangerous. The sheep reserve their position. But a spokeswoman bleated "Baah, we are worried".

Cars were burned, threats exchanged, insulting letters delivered.

In order to calm the various parties, the government has promised to simplify the compensation of farmers who suffer losses from bears, wolves or lynx. Farmers will receive 600 euros for each slaughtered dairy animal, provided that he has taken reasonable steps to protect his herds from attack.

There would be about forty brown bears in the mountains of southern France, after the reintroduction of the species there are thirty years or so.