Although France’s growing wolf population is good news for environmentalists, the animals have incurred the wrath of livestock farmers in recent years as growing numbers have been causing problems for livestock farmers.

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The wolves have attacked sheep in the Vosges since April, when a mystery beast thought to be responsible for several attacks was identified as a wolf. Since that time wolves have been demonised in the local press, which has featured stories on ‘the beast of Vosges‘.

This has led to a group of shepherds and sympathetic politicians seeking a licence to cull wolves from environment minister, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet. The shepherds want changes to be made to French law, which, although it contains an ‘anti-loup’ (anti-wolf) code, has only resulted in six wolves being shot in France since it was introduced in 2004.

On Monday, after 62 ewes fleeing a wolf fell into a ravine, the government authorised the shooting of a wolf in the region. There have been around 60 reported wolf attacks so far this year in France, which have claimed the lives of 422 animals. The number is up from 82 for the entirety of 2010.

Jean-Marc Moriceau, a leading French wolf expert, has called for the formation of a ‘wolf parliament’ which, in order to avoid the emotionally charged arguments of both farmers and environmentalists, would include both groups as well as politicians and experts to devise a common strategy for dealing with the growing wolf population.

Wiped out in France in the 1930s, wolves were only reintroduced in 1992. There are now thought to be around 200 wild wolves in 20 packs, spanning three French mountain ranges.