This story of Italian wolves filtering into France has been gaining momentum for a few years now. The stories, and one presumes, the wolves. As I understand it, the French tend to leave their sheep and goats un-sheded at night, more than the Italians do.
We're in the lower hills and see plenty of foxes, and suspect bigger animals in the shadows sometimes. This month I saw a cub of some type that looked to big to be a fox.
French Wolves, Rebounding From Extinction, Threaten Sheep Herds
``French shepherds have gotten so used to the wolves' absence they have forgotten how to guard their flocks,'' Englebert said in a telephone interview from the National Park of the Queyras in the Alps. ``It's a sector that can't survive without government subsidies and they are using the wolf to mask their other problems.''
Living with the big bad alpine wolf - SwissInfo
"According to the Swiss Wolf Project, the number of wolves will progress 20-30 per cent per year," he said. "The population wants to know if there are five wolves in the region and ten next year, and how we are going to manage and pay for that. There is a total lack of transparency. We want the truth." "You have the impression that politicians are scared when people talk about wolves " Wolf expert Jean-Marc Landry Taboo Wolf expert Jean-Marc Landry agreed that national monitoring of packs and young cubs could be improved.
"The population wants to know if there are five wolves in the region and ten next year, and how we are going to manage and pay for that. There is a total lack of transparency. We want the truth."
"You have the impression that politicians are scared when people talk about wolves " Wolf expert Jean-Marc Landry Taboo Wolf expert Jean-Marc Landry agreed that national monitoring of packs and young cubs could be improved.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
the French tend to leave their sheep and goats un-sheded at night,
Sheep in the summer in the high alpage (where the wolves may attack) cannot be shedded, there are just no facilities for it. The flocks run into the thousands (of sheep per flock).
siegestate:
How French shepherds could possibly remember how to guard their flocks against wolves beats me, since wolves died out in France many generations ago. The problem is created by the return of the wolves, not by the shepherds. As for the cheap shot about subsidies, all farming in Europe (or almost) is subsidised. So are the activities of the wolf and bear promoters.
(Disclaimer: I have nothing against wolves and bears. Just bullshitters).
Also, Queyras is not a National Park, only Regional.
As for the dogs making it farther inside France, even getting to the Massif Central seems a tall proposition as it requires crossing the Rhone valley. Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
