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French Panel Advocates Wolf Culling
AFP
May 15, 2003 — France's green groups sent up a collective howl on Wednesday after a parliamentary panel recommended that Alpine sheep farmers be allowed to shoot wolves that attack their flocks.
An estimated 30 animals, which live in isolated parts of the French Alps, have sparked the "wolf question."
Farmers in the high mountains claim they have lost around 5,500 sheep to the predators in the past three years alone, and some say they face ruin.
Seeking to end the fierce, protracted debate, the parliament set up a commission of inquiry to make recommendations aimed at both keeping the wolves alive and the farmers happy.
The panel's report, issued Wednesday, stood by France's "international undertakings" on endangered species but would water down the legal protections given to the wolves at the moment.
Its 25 proposals notably suggest that alpine areas be placed in three kinds of legal category: areas where the wolf would be given "complete protection"; those where it could be "culled under certain conditions"; and finally areas where "its presence would not be tolerated."
If wolves and humans cannot live alongside one another, "priority must be given to humans," said chairman of the panel Christian Estros. Estros is a member of the rightwing UMP party, whose constituency has championed the sheep farmers.
France Nature Environment, gathering most of the country's green groups, said the proposals would encourage "council wolf-hunts and give farmers the direct right" to shoot the animals.
Another organization, France Wolf Group, of which WWF is a member, said however that the wolf culling should not be dismissed out of hand.
"The possibility of culling wolves, when the population reaches maximum sustainability of around 100 animals, should be accepted by ecologists," its chairman, Rene Burle, told AFP.
The 1979 Bern Convention on Wild Species protects the wolf, but it also allows protected animals to be killed if they are deemed dangerous to the public or inflict great damage to property.
Over the last 10 years, French sheep farmers have received compensation for 11,146 sheep that, they claim, have been killed by wolves.
"Each wolf costs the taxpayer 100,000 euros ($88,000) a year" in compensation and protection costs, claimed Estrosi.
Environmentalists say the underlying cause for the hostility towards wolves is the disastrous state of French hillside sheep farming. Young people no longer go into the business, which means there are no more shepherds to guard flocks, and cheap imports from Britain, New Zealand and elsewhere are gaining an ever-larger share of the market.
Critics of the "shoot-to-kill" campaign also point to the success of some 500 wolves in neighboring Italy, where the animals act as a money-spinning tourist attraction.
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Name: Gray Wolf ( Canis lupus lycaon)
Primary Classification: Canidae (Dogs and Relatives)
Location: North America, Greenland, Europe and Asia.
Habitat: Northern boreal and coniferous forests. Open, brushy areas. Tundra.
Diet: When hunting in packs: moose, caribou, deer, musk oxen, and bison. When hunting alone: beavers, rabbits, and other small mammals.
Size: Up to 5 ft in length and 130 lbs in weight.
Description: Black and white, thick fur; long, pointed muzzle; large, upright, sensitive ears; long, sharp teeth; long legs
Cool Facts: Largest wild member of the canid family. Ancestor of domestic dog. Once the world's most widely ranging carnivore. Travel distances of up to 125 miles in a day.
Conservation Status: Listed as "Endangered" in lower United States except for Minnesota, where it is listed as "Threatened."
Major Threat: Human persecution and habitat destruction.
What Can I Do?: Visit the Wolf Recovery Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation's Gray Wolf site and the International Wolf Center for information on how you can help.
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