01.06.2012 0

Provence & Côte d'Azur: The hunter becomes the hunted once again

The hunt is on

France's former Ecology Minister Odile Gauthier signed a controversial bill, before the May presidential elections, allowing the cull of up to 11 wolves each year. Farmers, outraged at the level of protection their age-old enemy has been receiving, will be pacified by the new law which allows the legal shooting or trapping of the predator. However, animal rights groups are furious and have called Gauthier's actions "politically motivated" and "immoral".

Once eight wolves have been killed in the year, warning shots must be used in the place of further killings

A spate of highly publicised wolf attacks on flocks of sheep and goats is believed to be behind the new bill.
Last summer, in the Var valley alone, over 300 animals, including horses, fell victim to the jaws of the grey wolf.

While there is no official statistic on how many wolves actually live in France (having returned to the country in the early 90s, crossing over the borders from northern Italy), experts estimate that around 200 furry individuals live in the Alps region. They are said to  be separated into roughly 20 different packs who roam the mountainous stretches.

Read more about wolf culling in the June edition of The Riviera Times...

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