Rebirth
of the wolf sees French Greens at each other's throats
Environmental battle
ignites as predators begin to encroach on sheep-farming land
The lightning re-conquest of France by the wolf has provoked a civil war
within French Greens, pitting one of the country's most renowned campaigners
against environmentalists, some of whom are demanding his ousting from the
movement.
Wolves have been seen this summer for the first time since the 1920s in
the sheep-rearing area in Lozère in the southern Auvergne, the home of
Roquefort cheese.
José Bové , sheep farmer-turned-environmental campaigner, has called
publicly for the wolves to be shot, provoking protest from other French
Greens, who point out that the grey wolf is a protected by European law.
One wildlife protection group has filed a legal complaint against Mr Bové for
"inciting the destruction of an endangered species".
Pierre Athanase, president of the Association pour la Protection des
Animaux Sauvages (Aspas), said: "Ecology means bio-diversity. If Mr Bové
can't understand that, he should leave the (Green movement)."
Mr Bové, 59, became a hero to the anti-globalist and ecological movement
when he drove a bulldozer through a half-built McDonalds' restaurant in Millau,
in Lozere, in 1999. He has since served several prison terms for cutting down
genetically modified crops. Mr Bové insists that the grey wolf is not a green
issue. "We ecologists have to stop the double- talk," he said.
"We can't be against the depopulation of the countryside and, at the same
time, create areas of the country in which farmers cannot make a living. We
should shoot wolves... the priority should be to protect small farmers in
mountainous areas."
A handful of Italian wolves, which re-colonised the French Alps around
1993, are estimated to have multiplied to about 200 animals in 20 packs,
ranging as far west as the Auvergne and as far north as the Vosges on the
Alsace-Lorraine border.
Experts have predicted that they could reach the large forests just
south of Paris by the end of this decade. Under a "wolf code"
established in 2004, the animals can be shot legally only by government
marksmen or by shepherds trained and licensed to defend their flocks from an
actual wolf attack. In areas where wolves are present, shepherds are expected
to invest in guard dogs, lighting and electric fences.
These measures are controversial, but reasonably effective in the high
sheep pastures of the Alps.
Shepherds in Lozere say that the cost of protection from wolf attack for
their smaller farms would be ruinous. Their flocks – up to 200, compared to
several thousand in the Alps – are used to grazing unprotected at night on warm
summer evenings.
André Baret, sheep farmer and mayor of the village of Hure-la-Parade,
said: "Our farms are already threatened… That's not the fault of the
wolves, but they could push us over the precipice."
Defenders of the wolf say that co-habitation between man, sheep and wolf
is possible. There are 200 wolves in France but over 1,000 in Italy and 2,000
in Spain, where sheep farms still thrive. Until the late 18th century, long
after the last wolf was shot in Britain, wolves lived just across the Channel
in the Pas de Calais.
However, canis lupus is not expected to knock on Britain's door any time
soon. Western and northern France is no longer wooded or wild enough to sustain
them.
Running wild
Italy's bears: The reintroduction of
European brown bears to the Dolomite Mountains of northern Italy a decade ago
has drawn a backlash from farmers who say the bears have been feeding on
livestock.
Britain's badgers: A cull of badgers in
Britain is likely to go ahead this year in an effort to combat the costs of
Bovine tuberculosis among cattle. The government claims badgers spread the
disease.
Staten Island's turkeys: Ocean Breeze on Staten
Island in New York has battled scores of wild turkeys roaming streets.
Richard Hall
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