Since the early 1990s, the wolf has made an unexpected comeback in continental Europe.

Currently, 17,000 individuals are distributed across the continent.

And he returned quite naturally to France, without reintroduction.

The animal simply crossed the Alps from Italy.

Since then, it has established itself in many French regions: the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Jura, as far as Normandy and Brittany.

Some see this renaissance positively, others are not so enthusiastic.

Cohabitation with herders is at the heart of the problem.

Cows, sheep, horses: in 2021, the wolf killed 12,000 head of cattle in the country, four times more than in 2008. 

neither angel nor demon

The Vercors Regional Natural Park is one of the places in France where the return of the wolf has been observed.

Roger Mathieu, from the France Nature Environnement association, coordinates a group of about twenty naturalists who monitor wolves in the French Alps, with the aim of controlling their population and its evolution.

To date, a thousand wolves are present on French territory.

According to Roger Mathieu, with a natural evolution of the population, within fifty years the species will be established in many more regions.

"The wolf is neither an angel nor a demon," says Roger Mathieu.

And to specify that the wolf is not a dangerous species, the cases of serious attacks on human beings being extremely rare.

This does not mean, however, that this predator is without problems.

Elisabeth Moreau, breeder of sheep and goats in the Vercors, knows something about it.

"When I moved in, the wolf was already there," she says, "from a few individuals, we moved on to packs."

She explains that with the increase in the wolf population and the attacks on the animals, it has become crucial for her to have protection dogs, the famous patous: "if we don't have the dogs, it's At the end of our job, we have no more animals; in one week, they are capable of killing 2,000 animals".

Elisabeth is not against the wolf: "he has the right to be there like us", she affirms.

"On the other hand, it is the way in which we consider breeders" that must change.

Compensation given to breeders to compensate for losses,

Measures developed to maintain control over the wolf

Considering the high cost that wolf attacks entail for breeders, the French State has implemented measures to monitor the state of the population of the large predator and even intervene if necessary.

This work is carried out by the French Office for Biodiversity, in particular by its Environmental Police.

Nicolas Jean explains that the French State has put in place a whole system of protection for the herds, which range from help with guarding, to the use of guard dogs and nets around the herds.

He also explains that, even if the wolf is a protected species, if it continues to attack the herds, there may be the establishment of derogatory shooting, so the breeder can have the animal slaughtered.

"Relearning to live with the wild is a matter of balance, dialogue,

The herd protection dog, the patou, is a crucial help for breeders in order to better coexist with the wolf.

It is therefore essential that dogs are well trained to limit wolf attacks, without representing a danger to neighbors or walkers, for example.

"There is an interest in dogs being able to correctly discern what is a threat to their herd and what is not necessarily so", explains Camille Fraissard, ethologist and specialist in guard dogs.

The technology can also improve the effectiveness of guard dogs and help herders adapt to the presence of predators.

The start-up Keepio has developed a connected object for monitoring herds, a collar worn by guard dogs that allows them to know where the herd is located and to see if there is abnormal behavior among the animals.

“Seeing what is happening helps to materialize how wolf attacks unfold, and how dogs work,” explains Jonathan Bard, co-founder of Keepio.

Proof that technology and science help us to better coexist with nature.

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