Ln Monday, September 9, while she was making her daily journey from the heights of Salins-les-Thermes to Moûtiers, Audrey Peiffer did not expect to have an unexpected encounter: a wolf hunting in the middle of the town, in the middle of the afternoon. She immortalized this moment on video. Stolen from a private conversation, it went viral on social networks.
Audrey Peiffer, how did you come up with the idea of filming the scene?
At first, I just saw the deer in the middle of the road. She was out of breath and stressed, and I started filming while driving slowly. Then I saw something in my left mirror. It was the wolf. The wolf then gave chase, until other cars came the other way. The deer ran over the guardrail while the wolf headed back towards the mountain.
How did you feel at the time?
It was crazy! You can’t forget something like that! People go with guides and watch for days to try to catch a glimpse of it, and I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it without making any special effort. Friends asked me if I was scared, but the wolf certainly wasn’t going to rip the door off my car!
How did your video end up on the web?
I posted my video privately on my Facebook profile to share this fabulous experience. Unfortunately, someone in my contacts made a video capture of my film that was published publicly. When I saw the comments, I was dismayed by the hate messages that were there: “Kill him!”, “He’s going to eat our children”. The wolf had become a target. I contacted the person who originally shared it, telling them that I was the author of the video and I reported it to the platform. The video was deleted but it had time to be picked up on all social networks, and went viral by being shared and re-shared. I don’t care if my video is broadcast, but I don’t want it to provoke hate.
What do you remember from this story?
I will never forget what I saw, even if what followed spoiled the experience a bit. However, what I experienced remains unique, “unreal” are the words that came to me at the time. If I had to do it again, I would not put the video on social networks, even privately; I would keep it preciously on my phone and show it live to people I trust.
