Mr Macron goes wolf hunting, Mr Farid Benham and Mr Patrick DeGeorge (Le Monde Diplomatic Office)
Wolves at risk in France: gray wolf, canis lupus
Raimond Linke
W.Orb It poses no danger to humans and enjoys strict legal protection under the Bern Convention (1979) and the EU Habitat Directive (1992). Individual animals are to be killed only as a last resort to prevent serious harm to livestock. Over the last 30 years, the French government has spent a lot of money (around €30 million in 2021 alone) to facilitate coexistence between wolves and livestock. This figure shows, in part, the efforts farmers have made to protect their herds under the National Action Plan. About three-quarters of the affected farms are attacked only once or twice a year, mainly as a result of strengthening security, fences and guard dogs.
Despite the proven success of this policy, a new approach to wolf conservation was introduced in 2012. The previous policy of limited, targeted culling on a case-by-case basis without public debate has been replaced by regulating populations based on total population numbers. Rising numbers of wolves in France were used as official justification for killing more animals, even though there was no increase in wolf damage nationwide.
The number of wolves killed soared from 12 in 2012 to 174 in 2022, 19% of the total population. And the number of people at risk of being shot each year has switched from cap to cap. the goal. This shift to ‘regulation’ makes it easier to shoot more wolves, but disconnects from the reality of the field.
Farmers no longer have to try to get rid of wolves first before killing them. All you need to do to shoot wolves is take precautions and have a hunting permit. And when states intervene to exterminate wolves, they now use private contractors as well as state-appointed officials. Weapons normally prohibited, such as long-range rifles and infrared scopes, are permitted when targeting wolves. The French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) even set up a dedicated mobile “wolf brigade” at the instigation of Ségorene-Royal when he was environment minister.
Terror tactics (…)
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Farid Benham &
Patrick DeGeorges
Patrick DeGeorges is a philosopher who worked for the French Ministry of Ecology from 2005 to 2010 in charge of big predator conservation and is a member of the Michel Serre Institute. Farid Benham is a geographer and researcher at the Institute of Ruralite at the University of Poitiers, teaching at the Lycée-Camille Guérin in Poitiers.
(1) Infoloop Newsletter, No. 39, 2021 Review, Governor of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Lyon, 10 June 2022.
(2) “CP: Sondage: 84% des Français Sont en faveur d’une stricte protection du loup” (CP: Survey: 84% of French citizens support strict protection of wolves), press release of the French Foundation for Animal Rights, 2020 June 18th, www.fondation-droit-animal.org/.
(3) “Emmanuel Macron veut “réguler” les Populations de Loups” (Emmanuel Macron wants to “regulate” the wolf population), AFP, 23 February 2019.
(Four) Oksana Glente, “A Dangerous Phenomenon” (canis lupus lupus) et ses interactions avec le control létal: le cas de l’arc alpin français’ (Understanding the decay process of gray wolves (canis lupus lupus) and lethality control interactions: Focusing on the French Alpine Arc), Doctoral Dissertation in Ecology and Biodiversity Advocated at the University of Montpellier, 2021.
(Five) Antoine Norsey la bate qui mangate le monde (The Beast That Ate the World), Arceau, Paris, 2018.
https://mondediplo.com/2023/06/14wolves Mr Macron goes wolf hunting, Mr Farid Benham and Mr Patrick DeGeorge (Le Monde Diplomatic Office)
