Macron goes on a wolf hunt
From Le Monde diplomatique:
Since the wolf returned to France in the 1990s, numbers have grown to nearly 1,000 animals. The public are overwhelmingly supportive, so why are so many wolves being shot?
Wolves pose no danger to humans and have strict legal protection under the Bern Convention (1979) and the EU’s Habitats Directive (1992). Individual animals are only supposed to be killed as a last resort to prevent significant damage to livestock. For the past 30 years, the French government has spent large sums to smooth the coexistence of wolves and livestock (nearly €30m in 2021 alone). This figure gives some sense of the efforts made by farmers to protect their herds under the national action plan. Roughly three quarters of affected farms suffer only one or two attacks a year, largely as a result of enhanced security, fences and guard dogs.
