They still rarely take their muzzles out of the den.

But they should gradually take their marks outside to the delight of visitors.

The zoological space of Saint-Martin-la-Plaine, located between the Rhône and the Loire, announced on Saturday the birth of four wolf cubs.

Good news for this site which is due to reopen its doors on Wednesday after months of forced closure linked to the health crisis.

The father of these two males and two females is a wolf from Canada who arrived at the zoo in 2012. Their mother was welcomed to Saint-Martin-la-Plaine in 2019 after her transfer from the Haute-Touche zoological reserve, in the Center-Val de Loire. “The Canadian wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis) is one of the 30 wolf subspecies,” explains the zoological space on its Facebook page. For this species which lives in western Canada and Alaska, the population is estimated between 50,000 and 60,000 individuals. They are not considered as an endangered species but many associations campaign, in Canada in particular, for their preservation.

"Wolves living in large areas such as in Canada or Siberia were able to survive in greater numbers than the gray wolf in France, which completely disappeared in 1940", adds the zoological space of the Loire, recalling the damage caused to wolves by hunting from the 19th century. Today, packs have started to repopulate France, thanks to safeguard programs carried out in Italy and Switzerland. But the wolf remains threatened. "Its presence is a source of conflict with breeders who fear for their cattle and hunters who see this carnivore as a competitor to their activity," adds the park, recalling that some of our neighbors have found common ground to preserve this important species for our forests.

Awareness information that the public should find on Wednesday by browsing the alleys of the zoological park which houses, over twelve hectares, primates, felines, wolves, hyenas, peacocks and even reptiles.

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