In France, livestock farmers have become increasingly more vociferous over the spread of the wolf population in the mountainous Southern and Eastern regions of the country. Last month it was announced that wolves have ‘officially’ entered the Vaucluse department and a special congress of the farming union FDSEA has been held to discuss the effect of wolf populations on farming.

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Although appeals by farmers for a cull have accrued some support, politicians and conservationists have condemned such calls and the training of shepherds has met with success in the Vosges. Wolves have only recently returned to France; they were reintroduced in 1992 after having been hunted out of the country in the early Twentieth Century.

Wolf activity in France is focused around the Alps and the Vosges, near the borders with Switzerland, Italy and Germany. There are estimated to be between 150 and 200 wolves in the country and, although farmers have appealed for wolf hunting licenses, these have only been granted in six cases since 2004.

Wolves have become increasingly unpopular with sheep farmers following attacks on the animals, which reached a high point in spring last year. Last month, following attacks which left 17 sheep dead in Vaucluse in October 2011 and the poaching of a wolf in the region earlier this year, the department’s prefect unveiled a ‘Wolf Plan’, which provides compensation for farmers hit by wolf attacks and provisions for hiring dogs and shepherds to protect livestock.

However, although many French livestock producers have been quick to call for culls, the ecosystem value of predators, which have typically been hunted out of many European States, is only just being studied. A study published at the beginning of the month by scientists in the United States revealed “The loss in the Northern Hemisphere of large predators, particularly wolves, [means] current populations of deer and other large herbivores far exceed their historic levels and are contributing to disrupted ecosystems.”

The researchers, who looked at forest ecosystems in Northern Europe, North America and Asia concluded that, in addition to the cultural values of such predators, their presence keeps numbers of large herbivores in check. When predators are persecuted, herbivore populations increase, which has implications for the growth of young trees and can reduce biodiversity and even affect the biome’s ability to sequester carbon.  

Oregon State University researchers concluded that “New analysis makes clear that the potential beneficial ecosystem effects of large predators is far more pervasive, over much larger areas, than has often been appreciated.”

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