After “damage” observed on nearby herds, a young wolf was shot dead before attacking sheep, in Lozère (48). Reassuring for farmers, prefectural authorizations for “defense shooting” are excessive according to associations for the protection of the large predator.
The hunter was commissioned by the breeder who feared an attack on his herd. After “three recent reports of damage to herds located nearby”a wolf was shot dead in Gorges du Tarn Causses, in Lozère (48), the prefecture tells us.
The animal was about to attack the farmer’s sheep when it was shot. His autopsy reveals that it was a young male, aged two years. This is the 51st wolf killed by humans in 2024, adds the Lozère prefecture.
The number of wolves tripled in the department in 2023. Suggesting that the species, mainly installed in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, is moving towards the west and the Cévennes.
Also read: VIDEO. A wolf running on the road at the gates of a village, these images which worry breeders and residents
Last month, the video of a wolf on a road in Lozère aroused concern among local breeders, for whom herd attacks are traumatic.
The defenders of the large predator have a different view. At the end of May, several environmental protection associations revealed that for the first time in ten years, the lupine population declined by 9% in France, over the year 2023. This figure was confirmed by the ‘AFP.
Considering therefore that the animal is no longer in a good state of conservation in the territory, these groups deplore an excessive use of defensive shots, when pacifist methods are proving their worth. in regions where wolves have been present for a long time.
At Gorges du Tarn Causses, “the shooting took place in addition to the preventive measures put in place by the breeder to protect his herd”specifies the Lozère prefecture in a press release.
