“For us the solution is poison and lead…”
The return of the wolf to Creuse provokes the anger of breeders, struggling with the predations of the animal.
So much so that Florian Tournade, president of the Rural Coordination of this department, called on breeders to kill any wolf they encountered. “We invite farmers to take their shotgun and kill the wolf without saying anything. A farmer works to feed the human being, does not work to feed a predator such as the wolf,” he told France 3 Limousin. He even added: “The rural coordination will reimburse the lead and the bag of lime”.
Remarks that are controversial because the wolf is a protected animal, and that a system of compensation for breeders – admittedly criticized – is planned.
“Surreal image” for Bérangère Abba
Animal advocates were fired upon reading this statement. Activist Hugo Clément called on the authorities to “react to this offender who publicly calls for illegal acts. »
A call heard since Bérangère Abba, Secretary of State for Biodiversity, announced the opening of an investigation, regretting “the surreal image of a union representative advocating the use of weapons and the concealment of evidence to emancipate from the rule of law”.
Same speech in Haute-Vienne
At the beginning of December, the president of the Rural Coordination of Haute-Vienne Pierrick Gouteron, had signed a press release affirming that “a wolf on its territory is one wolf too many”. “We will not wait for the always too late conclusions of the OFB agents to solve the problem. In Haute-Vienne, we have lead and poison and we will regulate ourselves! “, he added.
About 600 wolves in France
Wolves naturally returned to France via the Mercantour in 1992. There are now 624 of them in France, divided into 106 packs, according to the count of the French Office for Biodiversity.
In thirty years, the French population of these predators has regained ground and these large carnivores are now present in a large part of the Alps and the Provençal massifs, but also more sparsely in the south of the Massif Central, the Jura, in the east of the Pyrenees and even in the north-east of France.
Their cohabitation with breeders, especially in mountain areas where packs are formed and grazing widely practiced.