A sheep was killed about eight k from us this morning and a cow about ten k the other way was attacked so badly it had to be put down.
This is a lot more frightening than a buzzard or a fouine.
Well I hope it actually was a wolf and not just dogs and that the farmers are compensated and it is not used as an excuse to go and massacre wolves.
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Yes, many cases seems to a touch over -exaggerated, and are quite often shown to be hunting dogs. A farmer in a village near us claims for wolf attacks once a year or so - and no sign of any wolves on that plain.
We have wolves in the Haut Jura so maybe Burgundy is taking ownership of them along with the rest of the Franche-Comté?
If numbers get out of hand then maybe a professional cull, but otherwise I wish people would leave them alone,
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We have a (literal) lone wolf operating in our area of rural Seine Maritime. Itâs a young male, who has travelled some 800km from his pack, according to the experts. Farmers who have lost sheep (once proven to be due to the wolf) have been promptly compensated at generous rates according to one I spoke to. Personally I feel it is a privilege to share the landscape with such a magnificent animal.
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In Scotland there are so many deer eating the bark on newly planted trees that they have become a danger to the reforestation plan.
The answer appears to be to introduce lynx.
Why on earth they canât be culled and the meat given to people who might need it I donât know.
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Whenever I read stories like this, I ponder the morality of how we âinterfereâ with the natural process of evolution. Iâve read about wolves and bears, and now the lynx as proposed for the Cairngorms, being re-introduced to areas where they have died out. Is that âman interfering with natureâ? Should it be done? Was their extinction in those areas not just part of the natural order?
One could argue that in the natural course of things, one species might flourish while another declines. Mankind is just another species, so if the influence of mankind farming, for example, is the reduction of predators like the wolf, bear or lynx - is that just part of evolution, natureâs progress?
Likewise, regarding the problem with deer eating the bark of young trees in Scotland, is culling a species an unnatural interference or is manâs intervention just part of the natural process? Is it better to cull with a rifle rather or to re-introduce the lynx? Does the latter result in a âcruellerâ death for the deer? Culling with a rifle may result in a more predictable outcome, whereas the lynx may predate on other species such as the endangered red squirrel or lambs . . . . . sorry for the thread drift itâs early and I havenât had my coffee yet . . . .
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I suspect some see a ânaturalâ death from the teeth of a wild predator preferable to that from being shot by a human hunter.
In the village thereâs a news stand with a headline about carcasses and wolves. I didnât carefully translate it, but this is presumably what itâs talking about.
Introducing a predator is a much more permanent way of controlling numbers, particularly in remote areas where it could be complicated to cull. Nature has a way of restoring equilibrium and creating balanced ecosystems.
Mind you we have lots of lynx, and lots of deer! But we donât have overgrazing or ringbarking from deer so I guess they are in balance.
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Problem is we are too successful, far, far too successful. We are going to wipe everything else out. India is about to âcelebrateâ overtaking China as the most populous country. Personally I lament it.
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You are up in the Morvan, but we are between Cluny and Charolles.
According to the Journal de Saone et Loire there have been ten attacks near Le Creusot and Cluny this weekend, ie last weekend.
Having lived in Scotland for years I can assure you there are major culls of deer all year round. In some hard to reach areas deer are culled from helicopters
Meat is sold by specialist game dealers or left for raptors.
Venison was sometimes less expensive than beef - I really miss the readily available âwildâ meat.
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Iâm in the Movan too. Wolves here come and go & occasionally have a sheep or two.
Iâve heard reports of Lynx but have never seen one.
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There may be no wolves here - I canât tell - but my experience of wild animals suggests they will multiply and spread given enough food and a lack of control. The area round here would be absolutely ideal, with plentiful deer and rabbits, plus heavily wooded.
One might but it isnât natural decline really is it, the dice are loaded - seeing the overwhelming majority of the decline is a direct consequence of activities carried out by a particularly invasive prolific and viciously destructive species of ape then maybe there could be a bit of reparation.
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Wolves have territories. And if too many the young males are kicked out of the pack to go elsewhere. There was a wonderful documentary here about a young Italian male wolf crossing the alps in search of a new home.
Iâll give ours a map.
There is a 'photo of a lone wolf in the newspaper article.
Many species now extinct did not die out naturally, but were hunted to extinction for food or their fur or skins. introducing Lynx means nature allows some to survive, culling by rifle or other methods can mean accidental extinction. Interesting thread.
Hi Meechan, Interesting point but I would have thought that the opposite would happen. Once the lynx is introduced, we would have no real control over its population growth and therefore no control over how many deer (or red squirrel, lambs etc) they would kill. They could potentially hunt deer to extinction. With a rifle cull, you could set the numbers to be culled to manage the deer population. And how would you control the lynx population? Shoot them? or introduce another predator - tigers 
( I jest of course) 
When a imals are shot to cull they die a quick death.
Animals killed by lynx can suffer a slow and painful death.
Is that what you want?