Wolves and livestock in France: situation after 25 years and possible solutions.

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Wolves and livestock in France: situation after 25 years

and possible solutions.

Michel Meuret, Patrick Verté, Laurent Garde

To cite this version:

Michel Meuret, Patrick Verté, Laurent Garde. Wolves and livestock in France: situation after 25

years and possible solutions.. Beiträge zur Jagd und Wildforschung, 44, Gesellschaft für Wildtier- und

Jagdforschung e.V., 2019, 978-3-7888 -1982-8. �hal-02928525�

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Beitrêige zur

JAGD

&WILD

forschung

GWJF

Gesellschaft für Wildtier- und

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Beitri.ige zur Jagd- und Wildforschung, Bd. 44(20 19) 231-235 Beitriige zur

JAGD

&WILD

forschung · 44

MICHEL MEURET, PATRICK VERTÉ, LAURENT GARDE, Frank.reich und Belgien

Wolves and

livestock

in France:

situation

after

25 years

and

possible

solutions

Key words: wolf, France, livestock

Summary

Scientists of the COADAPHT inter-agency net-work, founded in 2016 by INRA-SAD, have re-viewed 25 years of wolves' presence in France and their impact on livestock fanning. Wolves are present in a third of France, with 75 packs, to date ail ofthem in the Alps. The annual num-ber of predated domestic animais bas increased linearly over the past 11 years and is appar-ently a record in Europe despite the elaborate means of protection (livestock guarding dogs, shepherd's assistants, compulsory night pens). The failure of protection means is obvious as public and private costs are exploding. It seems that wolves in France, as a strictly protected species in a territory occupied by numerous humans, no longer associate livestock with humans, and humans with danger. Experience elsewhere in the world has shown that there is an urgent need to restore a more systematic reciprocal relation, including through_targeted lethal regulation, in order to restore a more ac-ceptable relation.

Context and

issues

In 1989, France signed the Berne Conve nti-on for the Conservation of Wildlife and Natu-ral Habitats in Europe. ln I 992, France ratified

the EU Habitat-Fatma-Flora Directive. Among the species classified as strictly protected in France: the wolf. France has therefore made a commitment to the EU to welcome wolf and implement the development of a population of wolves "in a favourable conservation status" on its territory. The first wolves arrived from Jtaly and settled in the Mercantour National Park, where their presence was only revealed in 1993 once a first pack had already formed. Since then, their population has grown quickly (current estimated growth rate: +20 % per year) and have gained about a third of the country: almost ail of eastem France, from Mercantour to the Vosges and Meuse, the Mediterranean basin, but also the south of the Massif Central and the Pyrenees. There were 75 packs (inclu -ding three cross-border packs) at the end of the winter of 2017-18, ail of them now in the Alps. The density ofthese packs is high and bas become comparable to the one of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (USA). The Southeast of France, with its extensive and almost conti-guous network of national and regional parks, is an area considered as very favourable to the dispersal and settlement of wolves in Europe. But these areas have also been occupied and managed for centuries by agro-pastora l live-stock grazing activities, whicb bas greatly con-tributed to the development of the biological richness of the landscapes, including habitats

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232

Beitriige zur Jagd- und Wildforschung, Bd. 44 (2019) favourable to many other wild and also

protec-ted_species. Livestock systems in the Southeast

of France generally graze year-round, including

winter transhumance, in often rugged, bushy

and wooded landscapes, making them highly

vulnerable to predation. This is why, over the

course of successive national "Wolf Plans", the French State has encouraged breeders to

pro-tect themselves, using techniques inspired by countries where wolves have always been pre

-sent: livestock guarding dogs, security fences,

2500 C: C: CIi ~ _CIi 2000 :i:: C: CIi ..c 1500

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reinforced human presence, systematic night

enclosures. The budget allocated to livestock protection (80 % of their costs subsided) and

compensation for victims now amounts to €30

million per year.

As a result of such efforts, and given the abun-dance of wild prey and in particular ungulates,

has the situation become satisfactory for far-mers? Not at ail. The intensity and dynamics of

predation on livestock farrns in France remains

described as "hotspot" by EU experts.

"'

N C: <( 0 • • 1 1

1

1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

Fig. / Number of protected herd5 in France (Source: DRAAF Auvergne Rhones Alpes). "Proiected" means a

signed contract for the i111p/e111entalio11 of at /easl Iwo livestock proleclion measures.

12000 10000 8000

.

6000 4000 2000 0

-

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1 1 1

1 1

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Wolves and livestock in France: situation after 25 years and possible solutions

233

Today, 92 % of wolf damage remains co

n-centrated in the French Alps and Provence

departments, where however almost all farmers

have adopted the means of protection for years. How to explain it?

Resu

lt

s

With about 500 wolves now occurring in a third

of metropolitan France, predation nowadays

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causes nearly 15,000 livestock victims per year

(sheep, cattle, goats, horses etc.), if we also

count the animais that have disappeared and

those victims of attacks. This is apparently a

record in Europe, according to the data

availa-ble for EU countries. ln addition, the number

of victims in France has increased linearly

over the past 11 years: + 1035 animais killed

per year, every year. Predation therefore has a

strong impact on agro-pastoral livestock sys

-tems, whether in the mountains, bills or even

-

r

--

ri--

-Kompensationen gerlssener Tiere

• Schutzkosten Züchter

1008 1009 1010 1011 1011 1013 2014 2015 2016 2017 • Schutzkosten Staat und EU

Fig. 3 Mean year/y cos/ of an adult wolfin France. Yellow: co111pensationfor lhe killed livestock. Dark blue: cost

of1he protection measures, parlfinanced by lhe public a111horities. lighl blue: cos/ of lhe proleclion 111easures, part paie/ by the /ivestock breeders. Source: DREAL Auvergne Rhone Alpes, ONCFS

i

90 ~ ₈₀ ~

t

~ 70

î

PWP 0 SU:tu.s unkiir ■ ktin Wolfsrudel ■ Wolfsrud•I ! 60 ~ ₅₀ ~ ~ 40

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20 -t--- --r- --~ ~ 10 -+--- ---~ o.J-i-ial d \,<t>" ,,.,,. ,.,,~ -$''

Fig. 4 Leji: Number of permane/11 wolf presence uni/.1· (black: wolf pack -grey: no wolf pack -whi1e: unc/ear

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234

3000 ~

"'

2500 C: <C C:

"

2000 -5 ·~

f

1500

.,

., 1000

.,,

:ë ~ <C S00 0

Beitragc zur Jagd-und Wildforschung, Bd. 44(2019)

1 1

Datcnqucllc: GeoLoup-Datcnbank Datcnanalysc: CERPAM

1 ■ 1 ■ 1 1 1

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

• Ungeschützt

• GeschOtzt

Eine ceschüute Herde ist die eines einzelnen ZOchters

oder einer Gruppe von Züchtern, die elnen Schutzvertrag

unterzeichnet und umgesetzt haben.

Fig. 5 Numberofsuccesfull wolves al/acks on lives1ock. Grey: u11protec1ed herds. Green: pro1ec1ed herds. A herd is considered as "pro1ec1ed" when a pro1eclio11 contract has been signed and implemented. Source: Geoloup Database. Analysis: CERPAM

1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 • Nacht Tag QUftldatm: Base Géoloup OREAL Auvergne Rhônt•Alpe,s Analyse~

Fig. 6 Number ofwolves aflacks opera!ed at night (blue) or during daytime (yellow). Source: Geoloup da1abase, Data analysis by Ce1pa111.

,.

,,, 20

"

ID • 1 JOU

Schwankungen 1n der Anzahl der verrnchteten Wolfe gemà& den ,ugelassenen Schussmodalitaten

•

1 .rl

1012

'°"

l014 lOll

1 .

1 ]

iou, 1017 1011 ■ 1tt-t\l.f l1t•V~1tn1f,:11,,a c1nt,1cht Vt'-rtc-•chgunc ■ vM rl•p, J'1nbf.n•h• • Vtntlrttte Rcgut!trvng •AbKhuu

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Wolves and livestock in France: situation after 25 years and possible solutions

235

00 the plains. In the French Alps, an area where wolves have been present for 20 to 25 years, more than 90 % of successful attacks take place in farms that have adopted the recommended means of protectio n. Over the past decade, at-tacks have also occurred increasingly close to fanns, villages and roads, night and day, and even in livestock night pens. According to the

researchers, the reason is to be found in the very smart, opportunistic and particularly adaptable nature ofthese predators. Wolves are highly op-portunistic, especially when placed under the

legal status of a strictly protected species. Over the years, they have learned to bypass the means of protection, and especially not to fear

humans generally not authorized to repel them with a rifle. This situation leads either to the abandonment of too vulnerable areas that have been grazed for a long lime, or to an important increase in the means of protection, such as the accumulation ofl ivestock guarding dogs (up to more than 10 dogs per farm), which often ma -kes these areas inaccessible to other users and also causes great concem to the mayors that have to manage conflicts between livestock gu-arding dogs and numerous hikers and bikers. The situation is similar in several other Eu-ropean countries, and even elsewhere in the world, when protected predators no longer con-sider humans and their activities to be a real

danger. It therefore seems urgent to succeed in

establishing in France, or to restore, if we con-sider the scale of the centuries, reciprocal re -lations with offending wolves, including lethal, prompt and targeted.

Wolves need to fear humans again, and espe -cially those humans working with herds. This would restore meaning and effectiveness to

non-lethal means of protection (electrified

fonces, dogs, scaring tools, etc.) as a signal to remind of the danger. Without this regulation,

the resilience of our livestock grazing systems is profoundly challenged, not to mention the viability of the breeders and shepherd profes-sions.

Bibliography

LESCUREUX, N .; GARDE, L.; MEURET, M. (2018):

Conside-ring wolves as active agents in understanding

stakehol-der perceptions and developing management slrategies.

- ln: Tasos Hovardas (ed.), Large carnivore conser va-tion and management: Human dimensions, Routledge,

London: 147-167.

MEURET, M.; GARDE, L.; MOULIN, C-H.; NOZIÈRES-PETIT, M-0.; VINCENT, M.(2017): Élevage el loups en France: historique. bilan el pistes de solution. - inra Production animales 30 (5) : 465-478.

MEURET, M.; LESCUREUX, N.; GARDE, L. (2018): Recipro-cal relationships between humans and wolves as a way

10 keep wolves al distance from livestock. lnvited

Key-Note Conference at the /sr European Symposium on Lives rock Farming in Mountain Areas, June 21 2018, EURAC Research & Freie Universital Bozen/Libera

Università di Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, ltaly.

Addresses:

MICHEL MEURET 1

PATRICK VERTÉ 2',

LAURENT GARDE 3

1 _U_ni_ve_rsity_Montpel_li_{er, fNRA, SELMET,}

34000, Montpellier, France

Walloon Public Service, Department Agriculture and Nature Studies. CERPAM, 04100, Manosque, France * corresponding author:

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