On that day, you had to have the eye to see it. Despite the snow that day in Lozère, Romain Planchon did not miss it. As he took the A75 motorway, near Marvejols, a town of 4,841 inhabitants, this Lozérien immortalized a meeting that has since been around the web. Through the lens of his smartphone, his gaze met that of a wolf. He tried to follow him first with his gaze, then by running alongside him. “But he was faster than me,” he smiled. The animal actually sowed it while crossing the highway, right in front of a truck, fortunately without damage.
On this rural territory, this taxi is used to crossing animals: wild boars, badgers. But a wolf is something else. “I think I have already come across one, one night, on my return from repatriation. But I can’t be sure. There, on the other hand, it is an extraordinary encounter. I am very happy to have had this chance, he explains. I posted it on social networks in order to share it with as many people as possible. »
High chances of being able to explore the animal’s DNA
In Lozère, as in many agricultural departments, the presence of the wolf is extremely divisive. On the one hand the breeders, on the other the defenders of animal diversity. Two opposing visions even in the comments to the video. Romain Planchon, for his part, does not enter into this debate. Before posting his video, he contacted a technician from the federation of Lozère hunters: “they collect all the observation data in order to transmit them to the national network which assesses the presence and the number of wolves in France”.
Its observation is also of great interest to the French office for biodiversity. Friday morning, Romain Planchon received a call: “If he found himself on this side of the highway, it is because he most certainly went under the fence, perhaps due to holes dug by other animals before him. Which means there are definitely still snagged hairs. With the DNA they contain, biodiversity experts will be able to know its origin, its sex”. A rare traceability. And a document that is ultimately exceptional in more ways than one…