As Little Red Riding Hood is wary, a gray wolf was photographed in Seine-Maritime, on the night of April 7 to 8, in the town of Londinières, about thirty kilometers southeast of Dieppe. However, some precautions were taken when announcing this "first for more than a century", according to a statement from the prefecture published on Friday.
The photos taken by an automatic device were transmitted on April 12 to experts from the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) who "were able to authenticate this observation as being very probably that of a gray wolf", according to the same source. which nevertheless emphasizes that "this expertise should be considered with some reservations".
“The“ hopping ”colonization system is characteristic of the wolf. The new installation territory can be separated from the original pack by several tens or even hundreds of kilometers, leaving empty spaces which can later be colonized. This explains in particular certain isolated observations, far from known permanent presence zones, such as in Seine-Maritime, ”explains the prefecture. "These dispersed individuals may stay in an area for several months before leaving it." "At this stage, this observation in Seine-Maritime does not allow to affirm that the wolf settles in the department", she specifies.
Our file on the wolf
The OFB has identified 97 areas of permanent presence of wolves on French territory, mainly in the Alps, the Southeast and the East. At the end of winter 2018/2019, the wolf population in France was estimated at around 530 individuals.
Planet
Indre: The passage of a lone wolf identified near Châteauroux
Planet
Charente: Authorities confirm the presence of a wolf in the department
- Planet
- Animals
- Wolf