If the DNA tests taken from excrement or on the two sheep attacked on November 12, 2023 in Momignies cannot attribute this attack with certainty to a dog or a wolf, other analyzes confirmed the attack, the 9, May 10 and 27, 2024 in Beauraing, by a wolf of German-Polish lineage. Other visual evidence also indicates the passage of a canis lupus in Villers-en-Fagne last March, during a game count.
As for the Nature and Forest Department (DNF) of the Walloon Public Service, the news of the animal passing through the region would not be a surprise. There are elements which suggest that a dispersing wolf could cross Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse. To establish itself there, it would require conditions that are very favorable to it. Should we therefore be worried about the presence of carnivores in Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse?
A protected species
During the conference given this Saturday evening at the Aquascope in Virelles by Alain Licoppe, the coordinator of the Wolf Network (SPW) and the ASBL Forêt & Naturalité, the distinction was made between the wolf well established in a ZPP (Zone de permanent presence) and dispersing wolves which only cross a region. For now, the Wolf Network has detected three areas of permanent presence, with a total of around ten individuals, located in the north of the Hautes Fagnes, the south of the Hautes Fagnes and the north of the Eifel. Very wooded and game-filled regions.
Eradicated from our regions more than a century ago, Canis lupus has returned to Europe since its international protection in 1979. Two natural dispersal routes come from the French populations (of Italian-Alpine strain) and German populations (of Italian-Alpine strain). Polish). The natural redeployment of the wolf in Wallonia is possible given the good state of conservation of the populations closest to Belgium and the conservation efforts deployed by neighboring countries.
A great traveler
On the other hand, Wallonia has a network of road infrastructures and an urban fabric that can present an obstacle to the establishment and permanent maintenance of a pack.
Young adults in a pack usually leave when they are 1.5 to 3 years old. Some of them can then settle in a region close to the parental pack. Others travel several hundred kilometers before selecting their future territory. This phase encourages certain wolves to cover daily distances of around 30 to 40 km. This incredible capacity for movement explains why it is possible to observe wolves even in improbable areas, but generally on a very temporary basis. They then only cross unfavorable areas in search of a territory in which to settle.
The dispersal of adolescents is done alone. Wolves occupy very large spaces (150 to 300 km²) which they defend against conspecifics not belonging to their pack. This territorial behavior naturally limits the number of wolves that can settle in Wallonia.
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