PARIS (awp/afp) – An investigation was opened after a call to “kill and make wolves disappear”, a protected species in France, launched by a farmer president of the Rural Coordination of Creuse, indicated Sunday the secretary of State in charge of biodiversity, Bérangère Abba.
To protect his herds from predation damage caused by the wolf, Florian Tournadre said on Saturday during a report broadcast on France 3 Limousin, that his union invited “farmers to take their hunting rifle”.
“We must kill it, make it disappear and say nothing, that will be the best solution. A farmer works to feed the human being, does not work to feed a predator such as the wolf” added Mr. Tournadre, triggering in particular a prompt reaction from journalist Hugo Clément, a declared defender-activist of the environment, on social networks, who called on the government to “react to this offender”.
“Beyond the surreal image of a union representative advocating the use of weapons and the concealment of evidence to circumvent the rule of law, killing or calling to kill a protected species is illegal and constitutes an offence. An investigation is open”, replied Bérangère Abba, also on Twitter.
“The wolf is a protected species. Killing it is illegal. The ministry’s services have taken up the case” added Barbara Pompili, Minister for Ecological Transition, in the evening, still on Twitter.
Several sheep were attacked at the end of December in the town of Féniers in Creuse, a department where a monitoring unit has been set up since 2020, made up of nature protection associations, state services, local authorities and foresters. Any sighting of the wolf must be reported to the departmental service of the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB).
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 by ourselves!”, He added.
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