Failure to prevent wolf damage to livestock in France: which solution pathway?

International SymposiumKey note lectureInternational audienceWolves were exterminated in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since then, breeders and herders learned to practice grazing in the absence of wolves. Thus, they were unprepared when wolves arrived from Italy in 1993, the year after France legally committed to the EU to protect wolves. Today, about 530 wolves, whose numbers are growing exponentially, are present over a third of France. During the last ten years, livestock deaths from wolves have grown linearly, up to 12 515 in 2018, even though France has implemented extensive damage protection measures since 2004: reinforced human presence, livestock guarding dogs, secured pasture fencing and electrified night pens. These measures, especially guarding dogs, adversely affect other land uses, particularly hiking, and the quality of rangelands. The damage prevention failure is clear. Wolves enter mosaic landscapes where grazing livestock are abundant and easy prey. Wolves are smart and opportunistic. As a protected species, they have unlearned to associate livestock with humans and humans with danger. Half of successful attacks now take place during the day, notwithstanding the presence of dogs and humans. Considering the high costs for unsatisfactory protection, France recently adapted its wolf management policy. Farmers that suffered several attacks by wolves are now allowed, by derogation to the law, to practice defence shootings, in addition to the other means of protection. From evidence in other countries, we suggest going further by re-establishing a reciprocal relationship with wolves. Farmers should be allowed to use herd defence shooting when wolves attack, not after several successful predation events. This would also upgrade the efficiency of non-lethal means, as warning signals for wolves to respect. Rather than a passive coexistence, we need to consider a dynamic and ever-evolving process of coadaptation between humans and wolves, relying on the adaptive capacities of both