Big Bad Wolf
I have just attended a fascinating local conference about the status of wolves (Fr. le loup) in France.
Wolves are coming back after being extirpated at some time in the last century. Current numbers are back up to an estimate of 1104 animals, the vast majority being found in the Alps where a steady colonisation from Italy has been happening for the last 30 years.
However, recently a very small number – exclusively young males - have managed to make it as far as the departments of the Pyrenees Oriental and the Aude, crossing the Rhone valley with its motorways and conurbations. They have been detected by camera traps set up in the forest in the mountains. So far they have not formed breeding packs, but remain as solitary animals.
Finding that the terrain suits them and that they can make a living here, that is to say there are suitable prey species, they have stayed in wide ranging but relatively stable territories.
However as there are female wolves not too far away in Spain it will not be long before breeding packs are formed and the Pyrenean mountain range will be colonised more systematically.
Of course this has not been universally welcomed by pastoral farmers fearing predation on the sheep flocks, and there are moves afoot to reduce the status of the animals down from Critically Endangered to Endangered, which would mean that they could be legally culled.
The purpose of the conference was alert people that wolves are coming back, that there is no way that they can be stopped, so before it becomes a problem the speaker, Olivier Salvador, wanted to explain just what could be done by shepherds to protect their flocks.
Historically the wolf has had a bad reputation in rumours, even fairy tales, generating fear. These attitudes last to this day. In fact the last wolf attack in France on a human was in 1918, and was made by a rabid wolf.
Of course there is no denying that wolves will predate on sheep flocks when they are taken up into the mountain pastures for the summer season, ‘estive’ as it is known. However there are ways that the losses can be kept to a minimum, and on an European wide scale the impact of wolf attack on domestic animals is a minimal 0.067%.
Olivier explained that the measures needed to protect the flocks are founded on the three principles. Trained shepherds (Fr. berger ou bergère), electric fencing (cloture electric) during the night (when the vast majority of attacks take place.), and guard dogs (chien de protection).
The shepherd has to be aware of the resources at their disposal, trained how to put them into place, and, obviously, accepting of the presence of wolves. They must be capable of applying for the compensation that can be paid by the state for losses after a wolf attack. This can be a complicated process, said Olivier, and needs to be simplified.
A single wire electric fencing can be fairly easily strung up and run off small photovoltaic panels, recharging during the day. Many of the shepherd’s huts are equipped with solar panels already. The enclosure must be large enough to contain the flock.
Perhaps the most fascinating strategy is the use of trained dogs to protect the flock. In the Pyrenees the dog used is called the Pyrenean Mountain dog or Patou; a very large white-coated dog closely related to the Pyrenean Mastiff, which have been used for this very purpose for millennia.
Again, there exist grants to help with the cost of such dogs. They are born amongst the sheep, and spend their lives within the flock, and are not considered to be suitable as pets. In 2019 about 4258 were being funded by the French government. Studies have shown that the dogs can reduce the level of predation by 90% as opposed to when they are not used.
There is another statistic. In France, where the use of these methods had stopped after the extirpation of wolves and bears in the 19th century, the number of losses of sheep per wolf is annually 25, in Italy and France where these methods have been always maintained it is only 3 sheep per wolf. These methods work!
At the end of Olivier’s talk he showed some riveting videos taken at night by thermal cameras in the Alps, by two Frenchmen.
The cameras are capable of detecting the difference between the wolves and the dogs as the dog’s fur is thicker, thus they show up somewhat more grey than the whiter wolves.
Firstly there was a video that showed what happens to an unprotected flock when wolves approach. They panic and run, and this can lead to enormous stress and casualties as they fall in the rough terrain, let alone to the losses to the wolf.
The next video showed a flock enclosed by a fence, who did not run. Very quickly the guard dogs came to the rescue, and of the pack of four wolves three turned away and ran, one remained but after a short while it too was chased away, outnumbered by the dogs.
The last videos were in some ways the most fascinating. Dogs are the same species as wolves, and can interact just like our pet dogs can.
There was film of a dog pack and a wolf pack who live close to each other and thus know each other. They recognise when there is danger and react accordingly, but also recognise when the wolves are not going to attack. There was film of them actually playing together, tails raised and relaxed. Also the rear end sniffing by a wolf on a dog that anybody who owns a dog is familiar with. Another shot showed a wolf trapped on a high rock, it lowered its tail in submission - and the dog let it pass.
The point that Olivier made was that it is not all wolves that prey on domestic prey, but it is certain individuals who have the tendency to attack. Thus indiscriminate killing of any wolf is virtually useless, as the main culprit might very well be missed. Better to use these methods of protection which would allow wolves to live alongside the flocks and humans who go to the mountains. More than 68% of rural populations in France support the right of wolves to live in their traditional ranges.
Incidentally, one of my dogs has some Patou genes in her; she loves to sleep, eat, and bark when she hears or smells something outside in the night. Even as a puppy she showed her character, guarding her timid older sister……
Comments
Post a Comment