This is the second wolf to be killed in herd defence operations since the start of the year in Doubs.
A wolf “in attack situation” on a herd was shot dead Friday by wolf-hunting lieutenants in Doubs, the second in less than two weeks, the prefecture said Saturday. A pair of wolf-hunting lieutenants killed the animal Friday around 11:45 p.m., during an operation to defend a herd of cattle in Mouthe, “while three wolves were observed attacking the herd in question”the prefecture said.
“This shooting was carried out as part of a simple defense shooting provided for by the ministerial decree of February 21, 2024 and authorized by prefectural decree dated August 7, 2024”the prefecture said. It added that “the observations made by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) a few moments after the shooting establish that it was carried out under the conditions required by the regulations”This is the second wolf to be killed in herd defence operations since the start of the year in Doubs, with the first animal having been killed on 24 August.
Sixteen attacks since February in the department
Since February, 16 attacks have been recorded in the department, including five in the commune of Mouthe, and several dozen cattle have been injured or killed, the prefecture said. “Given the frequency of predation on cattle, experiments are being carried out in the Val de Mouthe in order to define methods of protecting cattle herds that are adapted to our territory and our livestock farming”recalled the prefect of Doubs, Rémi Bastille, quoted in this press release.
In June, the administrative court of Besançon had annulled two prefectural decrees authorizing shooting wolves to protect herds established in the same sector of the Doubs department, in Chaux-Neuve and in La Chapelle d’Huin, where the wolf has made a comeback in recent years. The administrative court had recalled that “The wolf is a protected species under European law” dont “destruction is therefore in principle prohibited”.
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However, the law provides for exceptions to prevent “significant damage to livestock”. “Simple defensive shootings may occur when protective measures are implemented or the herd is recognized as not being able to be protected”in particular through measures of reinforced guarding or reinforced surveillance, through the use of protection dogs or through the installation of electrified parks, the court added.
