Wolves Approach Paris as Farmers Cry Foul

[fumobici]

www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-20/wolves-approach-paris-as-farmers-cry-foul-over-protected-species.html


Wolves are making a comeback in France and apparently are headed down from the wilds of the Vosges towards and into Île-de-France. Not being a Frenchman raising lambs, I think this is a wonderful thing.  Wolves are making a comeback in Italy as well, one being hit by a car not terribly far from my father's house in Tuscany.  I live in close proximity to a healthy population of the wolf's smaller cousins the coyote who inhabit the local park right inside town and it doesn't seem to be a problem of any great import.  The noises they make at night are a little chilling though. I might however feel differently if they managed to snag my cat. 

[Deleted]

This and the reintroduction of bears in the Pyrénées is a constant debate. Most people are in favour of wolves and bears living freely in areas where they used to be common, but whenever you see a report of a sheep farmer who had 30 sheep killed in one night by wolves, you tend to question the wisdom of it all. The solution to this would normally be higher tech protection with electronic surveillance and things like that. This obviously increases all costs and also keeps the livestock in more confined spaces, so it does not improve their lives either.

Perhaps there will be a better balance in the future. I would like to think that the wolves (or bears) are killing too many sheep or cows or goats just because they are not used to a balanced ecological situation yet. But how long will it take for them to learn to practice a reasonable cull? 10, 30, 70 years?

[bjd]

A friend of mine here had some sheep. They were killed one night by some dogs from the village, although the dogs' owner claimed they hadn't done it.

And many years ago, when my son was in nursery school, his class (and I as accompanying mother) spent a week in the Pyrenees. One visit was to a farm where the shepherd showed how his sheepdog herded sheep according to how he whistled. He told us that many sheep are killed by dogs that have "gone wild". This was why many tame sheepdogs had big metal collars on -- so that the dogs that had gone bad would not kill them by breaking their necks.

Furthermore, he told us farmers are reimbursed by the state for every dead sheep -- no matter what animal kills it.

And as I recall, the famous bear (called Cannelle) that was shot in the Pyrenees a few years after they were reintroduced there was shot by a hunter, not a farmer.