No animal had ever caught the imagination of people in that way. A wolf ! So much that it’s been extinct in our country for half a century. But here it is again. In 1992, it first settled in the Mercantour massif and now it’s populating part of the French Alps.

The planet is sustaining a dramatic crisis thru which thousands of vegetal and animal species are going to disappear forever. Preserving the biodiversity of these species and varieties isn’t just another slogan in a speech, it’s an obligation to us all. We now possess the knowledge to achieve a peaceful living with them. How many are they in our country ? Maybe about a good thirty, which is already too many for some. Several wolves have been killed, most of the time poisoned as in times past. More will be killed in springtime by outlawed hunters. The wolf is a protected specie thru the agreement on the international Berne convention and the directive on settlements. Furthermore, who would admit that the return of the wolf is at the end nothing but a wonderful gift of nature ?

Indeed, nothing is simple, nothing is easy, but we think that a renewed pastoral exploitation, which would make use, as in other countries, of the very effective use of herd protection dogs and shepherd would allow us to examine the matter of the wolf presence with a renewed perspective. In the Montana, as in numerous wild areas of the American continent, herds of thousands of animas are spending months next to grizzlies and wolves packs without being decimated. France can then surely give shelter to a few tens of wolves without sinking in a bad psychodrama.

We solemnly ask to the French government to take up it’s duty of protection and respect of the Berne convention thru strict sanctions especially regarding acts of poaching. It is unjustifiable that, after having allowed the bear to disappear of the Pyrenees, we allow today the eradication of the wolf. This animal is obviously a symbol and a looking glass thru with we can and should watch. But it is also a living being ! Living ! And it will stay alive as long as man let him do. Welcome and long live the wolf !