Is this the corpse of a wolf which was found along the A131 motorway in Sandouville (Seine-Maritime), between Tancarville and Le Havre? An autopsy must be performed on the body of this “large canine”. If it is indeed a wolf, this could explain certain livestock attacks recorded in recent days in this area.
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Is a wolf hiding behind the sheep attacks near Le Havre and Fécamp? Three attacks took place in less than a week in Pays-de-Caux, in Seine-Maritime. On the night of Friday January 10 to Saturday January 11, 2025, a sheep was found with its throat slit in Daubeuf-Serville, near Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), with traces of predation on its side.
A few days later, it was in Gonfreville-Caillot, on January 15, that three sheep were targeted. The latter escaped alive thanks to the ram which defended them, but traces of paws “like those of a wolf” were found in the mud. The OFB (French Office for Biodiversity) came to take fingerprints and is conducting the investigation.
A paw print, “similar to that of a wolf”, identified in Gonfreville-Caillaut after the attack on three sheep.
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© Facebook Vigilance Loup Seine-Maritime
Same scenario in Épreville, near Fécamp, dyears the night of Saturday 18 to Sunday 19 January 2025: the sheep were not killed, but “strong traces of predation at the throat, reminiscent of injuries from a year ago“, explains Olivier, head of the Vigilance Loup Seine-Maritime page.
“We have the impression of reliving the same thing as last year, it’s the same scenario.” At the end of January 2024, around ten sheep had been violently injured or killed by an animal in just two weeks. Olivier, who lives in Froberville, had also made a macabre discovery: two of his sheep were killed by bites to the throat and partly disemboweled by an animal.
“I saw carnage. Romeo, my lamb less than a year old, had deep wounds and his organs were protruding from his body. I found another of my sheep whose teats had been devoured and whose body was lying in my pond. My other two animals had bite marks on their throats. It was a vision of horror, a nightmare“, recalls the Norman.
A sheep was found with its throat slit in Daubeuf-Serville, Saturday January 11, 2025.
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© Vigilance Loup Seine-Maritime
A canine was then found hit a few days later by a car in Manéglise and the DNA analyzes showed that it was indeed a wolf. “After the discovery of the corpse, we no longer had any attacks at all”Olivier tells us, “and there it starts again with the same scenario!”.
-So is the wolf back in the Pays de Caux? Mauranne is sure, she saw a wolf crossing the road in front of her on Sunday January 12. “I was in the car, it was around 5:30 p.m. near Bréauté. It was foggy, but I'm sure I saw a wolf pass 30 meters from my car!”
Also read: Normandy: should we be afraid of the wolf?
Friday January 17, the remains of a large canine were found on the A131 between Tancarville and Le Havre, near Sandouville, following a collision with a vehicle (the fractures present on the corpse of the animal testify to this).“The visual findings carried out conclude that it has a strongly “wolf” morphotype. An autopsy of the animal will take place in the coming days and DNA analyzes carried out within the OFB wolf network will make it possible to obtain additional information on the 'individual (in particular their origin)', indicates the prefecture of Seine-Maritime in a press release Monday January 20, 2025.
“The final conclusions of the expert assessments are not yet known at this stage, but the latest attack presents characteristics which point towards a dog attack”continues the prefecture. DNA analyzes will decide.
It had disappeared for a century, but since 2019, the predator seems to have gradually reappeared in Normandy. “We hadn't seen a wolf in Normandy for a century, because it was an animal hunted and reduced to extinction in our region, but in recent years, we have been dealing with occasional episodes which are becoming more and more regular. “explains Clémence Méheust, who is doing a thesis on the presence of wolves in Normandy at the University of Caen (Calvados).
In April 2020, an amateur recovered photos showing a beast resembling a wolf in Londinières, east of Seine-Maritime. OFB agents and technicians had come to the area to take fingerprints and hairs. and capture other shots. The presence of a wolf was then confirmed in the area, a solitary beast which would have arrived from the Alps.
In our territory, wolves are often spotted alone:
Wolves work in packs, but only the dominant ones can reproduce. Young individuals eventually disperse and can travel several hundred kilometers to find unoccupied territory to form their own pack.
Clémence Méheust, researcher on the presence of wolves in Normandy
However, it remains difficult to explain its presence on Normandy lands. Can the region meet the ecological requirements of the species to establish itself in packs? “Initially, I thought that the wolf would prefer the forest massifs of Orne, where there are fewer roads and population and ultimately, it is in Seine-Maritime, in the most populated department of the region, that species have been found”.
The wolf today seems to have a great capacity to adapt, even if for the moment several have ended up crushed by vehicles. In 2023, in the English Channel, a canid was seen in the Carentan marsh. An unpredictable species full of mystery.
