This Saturday around 11 a.m., a heifer corpse was left by farmers in front of the Pontarlier sub-prefecture. The breeders of Haut-Doubs want to make an impression and denounce 68 cows killed by the predator in 3 years. A delegation was received by state services.
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It's a “rant” bloody. Around fifty farmers from Doubs were present this morning in Pontarlier for an action voluntarily visible to all. In front of the sub-prefecture, located in the city center, a tractor hung a dead heifer from the bars of one of the state service windows.
“For 3 years, the wolf has returned to our department, today we are at 68 cattle killed and 46 heifers injured”denounced Florent Dornier, president of the FDSEA of Doubs, who organized the action with the Young Farmers of Doubs.
The heifer, found dead in the town of Verrières, according to the FDSEA, was allegedly predated by the wolf, information that state services have not confirmed. While attacks follow one another in the department, defensive shooting operations have been carried out on several occasions against the predator.
Despite this regulation of the animal, which benefits from protection status at European level, farmers denounce a situation of impasse. “For 3 years, we have been asked to be in a dialogue, in experiments, this is what all the farmers in this area have done”lamented Florent Dornier, perched on a bench in the middle of the street.
Training, purchase of protection dogs, donkeys, night parks, mixing of herds, heifers brought in in the evening, the president of the FDSEA of Doubs recalled the steps taken by farmers to protect themselves from wolves.
“Despite this, a collective of associations […] take the State to court and file a complaint against 44 simple defense shootings”castigated Florent Dornier, citing Ferus, the LPO, the Large Predators Center and France Nature Environnement.
Last August, five associations in defense of the environment had in fact announced that they had contacted the Council of State to protest against the regulation of wolves.
I accuse them today of slander and treason. They point the finger at the farmers saying that they have done nothing, this is unacceptable. Hundreds of farmers have lost sleep.
Florent Dornier, president of the FDSEA of Doubs
By this action “punch”the farmers present say they are “fed up”, and assure that they will not stop there. “It’s the first, but it’s not the last”threatened Florent Dornier. “Each time the State refuses a simple defensive shot to farmers, the carcass will end up in front of the sub-prefecture, in front of the prefecture, or in front of the DDT (Departmental Directorate of Territories, Editor's note).”
In June 2024, two prefectural decrees dating from October 2022 and authorizing defensive shooting against wolves in the department were canceled by the courts.
“Y'en a marre”says another breeder in the group, followed by a spokesperson for the Young Farmers: “It is not acceptable that young people are afraid of settling in our territory, due to predation.”
“We are taken for amateurs,” criticized Florent Dornier, president of the FDSEA du Doubs, after listing the actions taken to protect herds from wolves.
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© Emmanuel Rivallain – France Télévisions
“For 3 years, we have been asked to hold a ridge line. […] we are in action, not in communication, and despite everything it does not bear fruit, because it still ends up in court, we are taken for amateurs”scolded the president of the FDSEA, Florent Dornier, further denouncing “a great betrayal of certain associations.”
“The goal is not to break everything”he tempered, before a delegation was received by the deputy director of the DDT and the secretary general of the sub-prefecture. A meeting that state services have, for the moment, not wished to comment on.
This Friday, November 8, state services in Doubs confirmed to France 3 Franche-Comté the killing of a wolf during a simple defensive shooting in Les Fourgs, last Friday, October 25. This is the fourth wolf killed in Doubs since the start of 2024.
A fifth wolf was injured by a wolf gunshot, but his body was not found according to the prefecture. For the year 2024, the national wolf plan provides that 209 wolves could be killed in France in the event of attacks. This is 19% of the wolf population which can thus be sampled under very specific conditions.
Also read: MAP. 2024 “black” year for wolves in the Jura massif: find out where they were killed
