He had not been seen in the department for over a century ... On the morning of May 14, a gray wolf was identified near the town of Jard-sur-mer, on the Vendée coast, announces the prefecture this Thursday.
There is no doubt about the identity of the animal since the canine was photographed using a device "aimed at monitoring wildlife".
The French Biodiversity Office has since confirmed that it was indeed a
Canis lupus lupus
, or gray wolf in everyday language.
If the presence of this protected species is “occasional” in the Pays-de-la-Loire region, Vendée is far from being a “known presence area”.
This wolf would in fact have arrived on the territory thanks to the “great dispersal capacity” of the animal: regularly, the birth of wolf cubs obliges certain animals of the pack to emigrate to seek a new place to settle.
Report any suspicious sightings
"These individuals can travel several hundred kilometers before settling, and this in a few days (dispersal distances can reach more than 800 km from their place of birth)", indicates the prefecture.
At the beginning of April, it was at the gates of Lyon that a gray wolf was, for example, seen.
If it could be an isolated animal, likely to remain in the area from "a few days to several months", any "suspicious observation of a large canine or any attack on a domestic herd" must be quickly reported, indicates the prefecture. .
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Animals
Biodiversity
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Wolf