The Return of the Wolves to the French Alps

Recently, there has been a big issue on the news about the gray wolves coming back to the French Alps, an area where more than sixty thousand French herders still use to herd livestock. This way of livestock farming is one of the last natural and ecological methods.

Back in the 1930s, the herders and farmers that lived in the French Alps had hunted the gray wolves to extinction with some official encouragement. But within fifty years of the gray wolf's extinction, the animal was made a protected species throughout Europe. By 1992, the first pack of wolves re-entered the French territory from the Italian borders. The conservationists were very happy, and the populations of the gray wolves grew steadily.

 Even though the conservationists were happy for the return of the wolves, that did not mean everyone was. The shepherds are becoming increasingly annoyed, because the growing number of wolves keep attacking the sheep. Since these wolves are protected species, the herders cannot shoot them, which allows the wolves to take as many sheep as they can. The shepherds have been asking the government permission to hunt the wolves. They refused, but the government hired Great Pyrenees guard dogs that trot along with the herd. So now the shepherds have started to take action in trying to stop the wolves from attacking their sheep. Each night, some owners lock the livestock in a kind of structure to protect the animals and they hire more hands to help out. Even with the French government spending millions of euros to reimburse the herders, the herders only earn around the minimum wage.

The wolves, on the other hand, don’t have any stress in surviving. The small group of wolves has a large amount of prey available to them. Because of the easy kills, their populations have been growing more than twenty percent a year. The small delicate pack that crossed the Italian borders to France has now swelled to more than 250.

So far, I sympathize with the wolves. Although the wolves have done a lot of damage to the livestock, the wolves are still endangered in France. If the French government authorized the killing now, the wolves would go extinct very quickly again. Then, it would take a long time for the wolves to return to the French territory again.

I like it that the French government is reimbursing the herders for the lost livestock, and providing the guard dogs, but they really don’t seem to be thinking of ways to stop the attacks.

I have a couple of suggestions on how to maybe reduce the number of attacks from the wolves. The government could build some kind of moveable barrier around the area where the shepherds herd their sheep. That should stop most of the wolves, and the guard dogs could take care of the rest.

Another plan is to introduce a new species into the ecosystem that won’t affect the balance of nature. Some of the wolves might start hunting the new species instead of the sheep, and that should decrease the loss of the livestock.

The government could also provide the herders with more guard dogs. Instead of the usual ratio of around 200 sheep to a dog, it should become 100 sheep to a dog. The herders would have twice as many dogs and most likely feel more secure.

I hope the French government will do something about this issue soon. If this continues, it could get very ugly.