Mixed reactions as France prepares to simplify wolf culling rules

(AFP): While French farming unions are glad their flocks be better protected from wolves thanks to changes to the government’s five-year management plan for the wild animals, environmental groups are angry.

The 2024-2029 Wolf Plan is supposed to represent a turning point towards a “better balance” between the protection of herds and the conservation of an endangered species, the Agriculture Ministry says.

After disappearing for a while in France, the wolf reappeared in the early 1990s – crossing the Alps from Italy – and its ranks gradually grew. At the beginning of September, 1,104 wolves were counted.

However, their presence is a concern to breeders who say they lost more than 12,000 livestock in 2022 alone.

As a result, they have been calling on the government to increase the quota of wolves to be killed each year.

With an annual shooting quota of 19 percent, up to 209 wolves can be shot in France under existing rules.

Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau on Wednesday confirmed the decree would be signed on Friday and a final plan would emerge in time for the annual Agriculture Show, which opens on Saturday.

‘Right direction’

Claude Font, sheep breeder in Haute-Loire and member of the National Sheep Federation (FNO), welcomed the government’s announcement – hailing in particular a “real work of transparency” on the methods used to estimate the number of wolves.

The FNO represents sheep breeders within the majority agricultural union FNSEA.

“We are simply trying to protect our herds,” underlined FNSEA president Michèle Boudoin, who believes the announcements were going “in the right direction”.

A previous version of the Wolf Plan, presented in September 2023, was criticised by both environmental organisations and breeders.

It already provided for a simplification of shooting protocols, for example by eliminating the obligation for wolf scouts (people responsible for managing the regulation of harmful species) and indentifying the animal before shooting.

Disappointment

Environmental protection associations said they were disappointed and worried about the changes.

Jean-David Abel, head of the biodiversity network France Nature Environnement (FNE), criticised Fesneau for not including scientific research in his handling of the situation.

“He did not ask for a scientific study, but yet he facilitates the shooting as if it were a species of tens of thousands in our country,” Abel told public broadcaster FranceInfo.

“Simplifying shooting is sending a very bad signal,” Cédric Marteau, general director of the League for the Protection of Birds, told French news agency AFP.

Marteau added that dispersing the packs would lead to more attacks by lone wolves. Instead, he says there should be a “real public debate” with more attention to the scientific information.

He said his organisation was thinking about ways to counter the new plan, including through legal channels.

European level

Increasing the shooting “will absolutely not solve the problem”, said Sandrine Bélier of the Humanity and Biodiversity association.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warned in September 2023 against the “real danger” of wolf packs in the European Union – announcing a possible revision of the protection status for this animal.

The question of the number of wolves present in different European countries is at the heart of many debates between breeders and environmental protection associations.

Under the 1992 European Habitats Directive, most wolf populations in Europe benefit from strict protection.