He has been based on his farm in Lopérec, in the Monts d'Arrée, for 40 years. Gilles Morvan is responsible for the sheep sector of the FDSEA Finistère, and also a member of the departmental committee on wolves. And for several years now, his entire daily life as a breeder has had to be reorganized to adapt to the predator. “I had 1700 sheep, today I have 500 fewer, I had to reduce my flock because of the wolf, depending on the capacity of my buildings to shelter them at certain times“, says Gilles Morvan.
Five Finistère cattle breeders subsidized to obtain patous
A few days ago the semi-annual meeting of the Finistère wolf committee took place. New measures have been taken: the implementation of experimental saliva analyzes to better understand the origin of attacks on domestic animals. But also the establishment of subsidies for five cattle breeders in Finistère in order to obtain patous, shepherd dogs to protect the herds.
Gilles Morvan had taken the lead: it has already been two years that Chip and Dale, two patous with white coats, have been watching over his flock. “They were born the first week after my first wolf attack, knowing that these are animals that take two years to be effective. I didn't wait for public aid and the possibility of co-financing from Patous. I bought them the first week they were born, which is the first week of 2022″, remembers the breeder.
I no longer work at all like I worked before the wolf arrived!
Patous, fences and barriers
Its exploitation is part of circle 1, as provided for in the Wolf Plan, that is to say an area where a wolf attack has been “proven”. And if since January 15, there has been no attack on his herd, the patous probably have nothing to do with it according to the breeder. “This summer, one of them came back with a completely torn muzzle. So clearly he was confronted with an animal at least of equal strength. We know it's not the other patou since his leg was injured so he was in a cast. What makes me think that it was a dog-wolf fight is that the other dog was not operational.” explains Gilles Morvan.
In addition to the two protection dogs, the breeder is also in the process of installing nine kilometers of fencing around his farm and has even considered a barrier system on the side of the neighboring river. “I no longer work at all like I worked before the wolf arrived“, he admits. As for his colleagues who would rather lean towards authorizations to shoot a wolf attacking their flock, Gilles Morvan understands them, but does not believe in the sustainability of the solution, especially if the population of wolves increases.It's stepping back to jump better” he sums up. “We have to adapt.“
