- On April 8, for the first time in a century, a gray wolf was most likely photographed in Seine-Maritime, and several attacks on herds have since been reported to the prefecture of the department.
- Astonishing? "Not at all," replies Nicolas Jean, deputy director at the National Directorate of large terrestrial predators at the French Office for Biodiversity. In the dispersal phase, a wolf can travel several thousand kilometers ”
- Back in France since 1992, the wolf had hitherto remained mainly in the east of the country. But apart from the big urban centers, the canine can find its happiness anywhere in France, tells Nicolas Jean. So why not Seine-Maritime?
The wolf conquering the West? Since 1992, the canine has returned to French territory. The first individuals, coming from Italy, crossed the Alps to settle in the Mercantour park. At the end of last summer, the Loup-Lynx network, managed by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) and in charge of monitoring wolf populations in France, estimated the number of individuals in France at 530. It also had 97 so-called “permanent presence” zones (ZPP) where wolves have settled down, 80 of which are packaged. The vast majority in the south-east of France. Some also in Occitanie and in the Grand-Est and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions.
No ZPP, on the other hand, in the west of France… Just a question of time? Because the wolf also ventures there. On January 21, an individual was seen in Charente, for the first time in this department in almost a century. On April 8, in Londinières, a few kilometers south of Dieppe (Seine-Maritime), an animal whose silhouette strongly resembles that of the gray wolf had his portrait taken by an automatic camera in the middle of the night. Four attacks on sheep and a predation on deer have been reported since, reported the prefecture of the department on May 2. Again, a first for over a century.
Should we be surprised? Nicolas Jean, deputy director at the National Directorate of large terrestrial predators at the OFB, answers questions from 20 Minutes …
Is the presence of a gray wolf in Seine-Maritime certified today?
This is the difficulty with the wolf, a very mobile and relatively discreet species: you must have data to be able to certify the presence. Ideally, we would need a good quality photo, taken in broad daylight, or a biological element - either excrement or hair - to carry out genetic analysis. Today we have neither. Nevertheless, the presence of a wolf in this area is very strongly suspected. We have had a beam of converging evidence for several weeks, including new attacks on herds in recent days, which are very characteristic of what a wolf can do.
The hypothesis of the presence of a #loup in #SeineMaritime is reinforced 🐺: the last elements of @ Prefet76 ⤵️https: //t.co/ME3NtOLqr9
- Normandie-Actu (@NormandieActu) May 2, 2020Is its presence in Seine-Maritime amazing?
Not at all. The wolf is an extremely mobile species and in constant search of new territories. This is the result of a very socially structured pack life. In Western Europe, packs are made up of four to six individuals on average. There cannot be an overdensity of wolves on a territory. A pack of 25 wolves is unthinkable, for example. The group regulates itself well before. And one of the mechanisms, precisely, is dispersion: individuals leave the group in search of vacant territories in which to settle.
There are two dispersal periods in the year. One in the fall, when the young of the year start to take up too much space in the pack. The other time of the rut, between February and March. In a group of wolves, there is only one pair that reproduces. The alpha couple, that is to say the dominant male and female. If a suitor wants to have access to reproduction, he either measures himself against the dominant male, or he leaves the pack and goes to look for a sexual partner in the hope of starting a family. It is probably in this scenario that the wolf observed in recent days in Seine-Maritime.
How far can this conquest of new territories take?
There is no known determinism that would predict the direction a wolf will take and the distance it will travel. Some individuals will settle ten or fifteen kilometers from their original pack, others will travel several hundred or even thousands of kilometers, cross canals, highways, etc. This diversity of cases is not specific to the French population. We also see it in Italy, the United States, Spain…
Can Seine-Maritime completely suit the wolf, to the point that it settles there permanently?
Yes quite. Except for the big urban centers, the whole of the French territory can suit the wolf to the point that it settles there permanently. This was the case several centuries ago. The wolf is able to adapt to all types of biotope. Mountain, forest, plain ...
The animal just needs two things. A little bit of tranquility. And only a little bit, since we see that wolves live next to large urban centers in Romania or Italy. Then food resources. It doesn't make it difficult. In most cases, the wolf feeds mainly on wild ungulates. But he can adapt his diet very well. Wolves live, for example, in the large cereal plains of Spain and feed almost exclusively on rabbits. Others in Eastern Europe live near landfills and feed on what they find there. Still others, in swampy areas, mainly eat nutria.
At the end of last summer, the Loup-Lynx network identified five areas of permanent presence of the wolf in France additional compared to the previous assessment ... Should we expect that, gradually, the wolf will resettle on the whole of the territory ?
As long as there is an increase in the population, there will be these phenomena of dispersion and therefore, very probably, observations of wolves in territories where we had not seen it for a long time. However, this dynamic is not acquired either. It depends on many factors. Mortality is very high in wolves. In "normal" times, a Cub has only a 50% chance of reaching 1 year, beyond which it is considered to be out of business.
This mortality is, in some years, much higher when pathologies emerge. Inevitably, wolf slaughter authorizations - a ceiling that France sets each year - also impact the population dynamics of the species. On the other hand, you have to be aware that everything is not based on the French population. There are also wolves in Spain, Germany, Italy. And who will certainly, in the future, cross borders again to come and settle with us.
Is the presence of the wolf on a territory always synonymous with damage in livestock?
The opportunism of the wolf can be problematic. Again, it adapts its diet to the availability and accessibility of the prey that surrounds it. In other words, it goes to the simplest. And sometimes the simplest is a flock of sheep or goats that is easy to access, that is to say unprotected. There he will type. But the cases are heterogeneous. In the Pyrénées-Orientales, where the wolf has been present for several years, it does relatively little damage. In Charente, there have been no attacks on herds brought up after the observation of a wolf in January.
There are reverse examples. This has been the case in recent days in Seine-Maritime. This is also the case in eastern France where, on a territory straddling the Meuse, Meurthe-et-Moselle and the Vosges, an individual alone causes great damage [150 attacks on herds were awarded between 2016 and 2019, reported last July Le Parisien] .
This is the whole purpose of the “wolf” watch cells that the State sets up in areas where its presence is problematic. It already aims to support breeders so that they are compensated for the costs that the wolf has caused them, but also to allow them to protect themselves from future attacks. This is the problem in regions where the wolf has not been present for more than a century: we must review all the habits, take into account the presence of a natural predator on the territory.
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