Sheep are no longer enough for them. Saône-et-Loire has been deploring wolf attacks on cattle for several months. What’s the turn of the Charolais herd in Nièvre?
A farmer established for three years on around a hundred hectares in the town of Magny-Cours, Charles Dessauny, 30 years old, would have done well without a macabre as well as distressing discovery, Friday November 15 in the early morning. One of his cows was lying in a meadow, fatally attacked by a predator the previous night.
The surprise was total: “In this Magny-Cours-Mars-sur-Allier-Saint-Parize sector, it has been a mess since the beginning of the summer. But with horned animals, I thought I was safe,” laments the young breeder from Nivernais.
However, the identity of the culprit(s) leaves no doubt for Charles Dessauny: the wolf. “I saw it for the first time with my own eyes on Tuesday October 22. He was seen again on Sunday the 27th. He was seen again on Friday the 15th of November very close to here, near the Château de Sallay. There are numerous traces attesting to its presence. Some hunting friends found two deer heads not far from here a few days ago. The rest had been devoured! »
premium “I am not here to protect the wolf,” assures Jean-Paul Célet, prefect responsible for lupine management, visiting Nièvre
The memory of his encounter with the wolf is still strong: “I was in a tractor on the road. He was on the other side of the hedge. Three meters, four at most, separated us. When we come across one, there can be no confusion: this beast has no guts (sic), its belly is narrow. Conversely, the chest and mouth are enormous. A powerful animal! » observed, connoisseur, Charles Dessauny.
“When we come across one, there can be no confusion! »
Their eyes met: “A cold eye!” » remembers the breeder.
The loss of the bovine is measured beyond its financial value alone: “It’s not just any cow that I lost. I am all the more saddened by the death of this cow, as it was registered in the Charolais Herd-book. She was six months old and passed testing last month. I intended her to become a breeder. »
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He imagines that he will be compensated. “But within two years, she was due to have a calf. This cross and this lineage are lost. The whole perspective is reduced to nothing because of this wolf or these two wolves, because in my opinion, a single wolf does not bring down a 300 kg cow! “.
Agents from the French Biodiversity Office came to make an observation on Friday and take samples. “We cannot use wolf hunting to kill this predator, because Magny-Cours is not in an area marked as exposed. Yet it is there. And will do it again, for sure! » assures the young breeder. He fears the worst “next spring when the little calves will be in the meadow”.
Jean-Christophe Henriet
