The meeting was announced as risky. It didn’t fail. This Monday, at noon, several environmental associations slammed the door on the closed-door meeting of the National Wolf Group (GNL) in Lyon. The government came to present to this committee – also made up of elected officials, breeders, hunters, etc. – the main orientations of its 2024-2029 wolf plan, which must come into force on January 1.
This document, updated every four years, develops the method to ensure the management of the species in France, where it made its return, naturally, at the beginning of the 1990s. Thirty years later, the number of wolves in France is estimated at 1,104 individuals, according to the latest assessment communicated on September 8 by the prefecture of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in charge of preparing the wolf plan. This estimate has been revised upwards compared to a first estimate, last July, which identified 906 individuals in the territory.
A wolf plan which marks the re-examination of the status of the canine in France
This return of the wolf is welcomed by environmental associations who see it as rare good news on the biodiversity front. But it also disrupts the work of breeders who recorded 12,000 animals killed last year.
This shows the tensions around the wolf plan. This Monday, the government only presented the main guidelines in the absence of the final version. But environmental associations are already turning pale, denouncing a very unbalanced plan for the wolf. It aims to establish a new “balance” between wolves and pastoralism, the executive estimating that the first “is no longer in danger of extinction” while (…) there is a real danger of disappearance of pastoralism “.
The main angry subject concerns the very status of the wolf in France, today a strictly protected species. “The text recognizes the need to reexamine the status of the wolf in France, with the possibility of making it a protected species only,” indicates Claude Font, wolf manager of the National Sheep Federation and present at this Monday’s meeting, alongside breeder. He welcomes this measure, which would possibly increase the maximum annual harvest rate of wolves in France, currently capped at 19% of the total population.
In any case, the future plan provides for an increase in the harvest rate over the period 2024-2029 if the evolution of the lupine population allows it (possibility of increasing to 20 or 21% ceiling harvests).
These possible downgrades and increase in wolf killings have made the six environmental associations which have a seat in LNG* jump and largely explains their decision to leave the meeting before the end. “The wolf remains a vulnerable species in France which is not in a good state of conservation and the wolf is not, by far, the main threat to sheep farming,” recalls the Ferus association, in a press release.
Simplification of shots, the other subject of tension
Another subject of tension: this new wolf plan plans to facilitate defensive shooting for breeders. “Today, provided that he has taken measures to secure his herd and if a wolf is reported nearby, a breeder can request a simple defensive shot to defend his herd from possible attacks,” explains Claude Font. But this “simple defense shot” is only granted for a rifle, so the breeder must defend his herd. » The future Wolf plan plans to authorize two shooters in the future. The prefect may even authorize the use of a third.
Furthermore, still with the aim of simplifying shooting, breeders and hunters will be able to use night vision equipment. The louveterie lieutenants [des agents bénévoles de l’Etat], and agents of the French Biodiversity Office, sworn, with thermal telescopes will no longer be required to illuminate “the target” beforehand. In order to make wolf scouts “more available”, “more mobile” and “more efficient”, several wolf scouts will be designated by the prefect in each department who will be specifically in charge of managing authorized wolf shooting.
A new meeting in November
The plan provides for better consideration of indirect damage suffered by breeders due to attacks (genetic losses, abortions, missing animals, etc.). Victim breeders will be compensated within 125 days. Support will be offered to them.
Discussions are expected to continue in the coming weeks. “Details are still missing for many measures and we do not know much about the exact financial envelope that will be allocated in the future wolf plan,” continues Claude Font. There is still work to do and time is running out. » A next meeting of the National Wolf Group is planned for November. Not sure that environmental associations are there. “We have announced our definitive withdrawal from the National Wolf Group,” Jean-David Abel, representative of France Nature Environnement (FNE) and spokesperson for the six NGOs with a headquarters in LNG, told AFP this Monday afternoon. . “Their departure is regrettable. The door remains open and contacts will continue. The consultation process will continue,” reacted the prefecture of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.