One Voice is going to the State Council on 23 March for the wolves

We have challenged the two orders of 23 October 2020, the first which sets the conditions and limits under which exclusions from the ‘destruction’ bans concerning wolves may be granted by the prefects, and the second, issued on the same day, which sets the maximum number of wolves that can be massacred each year. The second order allows the shooting of 19% of the wolf headcount per year (this threshold can go up to 21% under certain conditions). This percentage corresponds to 118 wolves in 2021 and just as many in 2022.

These orders have been set even though:

• The French National Council for Nature Conservation (Conseil National de la Protection de la Nature – CNPN) gave an unfavourable opinion on both intentions of the orders (as they did for the preceding orders).
• Wolves are a protected species that is still classified as ‘vulnerable’ by the IUCN which indicates that they are still at an increased risk of extinction.
• The percentage of the population authorised to be shot has been set higher without evaluation of the effects on the wolf population and, despite the exponential increase of the caps, at a bare minimum, the last few years have slowed the growth of the species.
• Many scientific studies highlight that a management policy based on the numbers of wolves is inadequate. We must take into account the social fabric of this population which is not currently being done.

Incidentally, the ‘executive’ order removes the necessity of scaring them before shooting, even though studies have shown it to be effective.

We have highlighted two aspects that are of the utmost importance to us: the insufficiency of devices relating to protection measures used for wolf packs, despite the triple electric fencing, guard dogs, reinforced and efficient security, and the absence of any demonstration of the effectiveness of lethal shootings and even their counter-productive nature (due to the de-structuring of wolf packs in particular).

A reputation to restore and individuals to protect, who all have their place in the ecosystem

We are, as we are every year, nauseated by this unfounded policy based on regulation by shooting instead of being driven by the desire to protect animals of this species. During our activities to raise awareness of this subject throughout France, our activists have explained this to the public. We are therefore asking the State Council for these orders to be annulled.

Condemned by the CNPN, this government policy has no grounds. Let’s be honest: it’s criminal. The French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) clearly points out the deadly effects. The survival rate of grey wolves went from 74% before 2014 to 58% from 2014-2019: alarming figures that are clearly attributable to the management of our leaders.

Incidentally, the study published in February 2019 by the Natural History Museum and the OFB clearly established a lack of correlation between the number of shots and the levels of damage that breeding farms suffer. However, on 2 November 2020, 97 wolves had been slaughtered. A chilling figure.

Excluding poaching, this official figure rose to 100 in 2021. The reality is much worse. Poachers are very active and we do not take their threats lightly. We have therefore filed complaints several times against poaching groups established in the last few years (in August 2020 and the previous year, in 2019), but this year it is the agricultural unions for sure who are making threats and calling for massacres.

On 23 February 2022, according to official figures, five wolves were already dead…

Translated from the French by Joely Justice