Wolves in The Alps
9th September 2011
Last modified on August 13th, 2022
They are on the increase across the remote parts of The Alps. Food is in plentiful supply and they are protected as an endangered species. Is the wolf becoming a bigger danger? In France concerns are rising.
The animals have been on the increase for many years with an estimated 200 in the southern French Alps and many sightings and evidence of them in Switzerland with sheep and other livestock killed.
We have reported on their rise in the past here on PlanetSKI and reported direct from the Swiss Alps on their re-appearance and how that perhaps they are not quite as hostile and aggressive as folklore tells us.
They are after all in small numbers and are carnivors. They need to eat to survive like many other animals.
They are not roaming round in the Alps in killer packs terrorising humans and remote communities.
Now the BBC has picked up on the story and it is one of the most read stories on the organisation’s web site.
According to the BBC report there have been almost 600 attacks in France this year with 2,000 sheep killed.
It is a rise of 20% on last year.
However farmers get a compensation payment of €130 per animal killed by a wolf and some think the farmers may be exaggerating the problem.
France has already had a limited cull of the wolves that have colonised the French Alps in recent years.
In 1994, 192 sheep were killed by wolves in France. By 2002 the death toll had risen to 2,800.
It went down in recent years but this summer it appears to have risen again.
Wolves though conjure certain images and have an impact on the human psyche from their central role in fairly tales like Little Red Riding Hood through to horror films about werewolves.
Michael Jackson turned into a wolf in one of his most famous videos, Thriller. The animal has a certain pull on the human imagination.
The wolves were almost hunted to extinction in the 1930’s are believed to have come into the French Alps from Italy.
Their numbers look certain to rise over coming years.
For the spirit of the mountains
