The Maine-et-Loire prefecture confirms that a photo taken not far from Cholet is indeed that of a gray wolf. Protection aid measures have been offered to breeders since January 1.
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The information may seem most surprising in 2025, but it is confirmed by the Prefecture of Maine-et-Loire, the wolf has made its return to this department!
To say that it is now established in Anjou is perhaps still a little early, but a gray wolf (Canis Lupus) has officially been identified near La Séguinière, west of Cholet.
“The French Biodiversity Office (OFB), in charge of processing reports, was contacted on January 6 by a person who sent a photo taken in the town of La Séguinière on the night of December 7 to 8, 2024 to using an automatic camera trap”, tells us a press release from the Maine-et-Loire prefecture.
The photo was authenticated by the OFB's Loup network. It is indeed a gray wolf and not a wolfdog.
“This observation coincides with two reports of predation on sheep in this same area in December (2024),” the statement continued, adding that no other cases have been reported since.
In fact, at the end of 2024, three attacks were reported in 20 days, north of Cholet, therefore not far from La Séguinière, which it was believed at that time could be the work of wolves.
READ ALSO: 3 herd attacks, is the wolf back in Anjou?
The press release indicates that the department of Maine-et-Loire has now been classified in “circle 3” which means: area of possible occurrence of wolf predation in the medium term.
This decision gives breeders the right to request aid to acquire and/or train dogs to protect herds.
The website of the prefecture of this department offers the necessary information on this subject, including the reflex reporting sheet, and reminds us that the wolf is a protected species.
Remember that elsewhere in the region, similar observations have already been made. HAS Jard-sur-Mer, in Vendée, May 14, 2021.
In October 2021, a wolf was struck and killed by a vehicle in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, which had left hairs in Avrillé, in Vendée, a few months earlier.
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