Government announcements on wolf culling: an ethical, ecological and political scandal
During a visit to Haute-Marne earlier this week, ministers Annie Genevard and Mathieu Lefèvre announced future measures for the ‘management’ of wolves. Behind this administrative language lies a clear political agenda: to kill more and more wolves.
Every announcement, every decision, every decree sounds like a death sentence for these animals who are simply trying to live. This is a historic step backwards, and we will continue to fight it.
An increase in the number of wolves to be killed each year, the abandonment of herd protection in favour of lethal shooting… Behind these choices are lives, packs and families. Wolves are not ‘pests’: they are sentient beings, with deep social bonds, who have roamed
our forests and mountains for millennia. Far from promoting coexistence, the government is choosing violence in the name of a false solution that sacrifices animal life on the altar of convenience and profit for a certain farming community.
A conscious political choice: shooting rather than protecting
This is not a policy aimed at safeguarding a protected species: it is a licence to kill, an unacceptable moral and ecological step backwards, under the guise of social peace. Today’s wolves bear the weight of their past: a century ago, they were exterminated in France. Now, history is repeating itself in a more insidious form: first, stop protecting herds, then increase the number of shootings, normalise the practice and, tomorrow, make wolves huntable. This scenario is not exaggerated. When protection weakens year after year, extermination becomes a possibility once again.
Coexistence is possible. It simply requires intelligence, courage and responsibility: mandatory protection of livestock, fully funded by the state, and technical guidance for farmers. More killing will not solve anything. Giving in to short-term pressure is not a solution. What is at stake today goes beyond the issue of wolves: it is about our collective ability to defend biodiversity in the face of the choice to destroy again and again. We cannot accept such a setback for animals. For the wolves, our fight continues: we will challenge these decrees in court.
Stop the persecution of wolves!
Government announcements on wolf culling: an ethical, ecological and political scandal
The government is facilitating the shooting of wolves and jeopardising their