Culling Controversy as French Wolf Population Falls in 2023

There is increasing controversy about the status of wolves in France - AFP
There is increasing controversy about the status of wolves in France - AFP
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Culling Controversy as French Wolf Population Falls in 2023

There is increasing controversy about the status of wolves in France - AFP
There is increasing controversy about the status of wolves in France - AFP

The estimated number of wolves in France last year was 1,003, down nine percent from the year before, environmental associations said earlier this week, urging the French government to lower its quota for the number of the animals which can be killed each year.

The drop in the predator's population is the first in almost ten years, according to loupfrance.fr, a site managed by France’s biodiversity authority.

"This new estimate reinforces the finding that the species' conservation status is not good," the six conservation groups wrote.

The current quota allows for 19 percent of the French wolf population to be legally killed.

But an administrative source close to the matter —- who confirmed the 1,003 figure —- told AFP that current hunting limits would be maintained, allowing for "209 wolves" to be culled, AFP reported.

The percentage is "based on the estimated population at the end of the winter, which was 1,104," said the source, asking not to be named.

The number of wolf attacks is also on the rise, added the source.

For their part, agricultural groups argue culling nearly one-fifth of the predator's population is still too low to prevent what they say is a growing number of attacks on livestock.

Wolves had vanished from France but began returning in the 1990s, with farmers saying they suffered 12,000 attacks on their animals in 2022.

"For 2024, we're expecting to see an increase in the number of reports and victims," said a representative for France's sheep farmers group, Claude Font.

"If we hold at 19 percent of the estimated wolf population, we're not going to stop the number of sheep being killed," he said, calling for political action at the highest level to increase the percentage.

But for League of the Protection of Birds (LPO) president Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, "wolves are being sacrificed on the altar of agricultural demagoguery".

In addition to authorised hunting, "we're seeing an upsurge in poaching and poisoning", he told AFP.

The National Wolf Group (GNL) meeting, scheduled for Friday, will bring together environmentalists, elected officials, civil servants, the agricultural industry, and hunters.

But several environmental groups pulled out of the organisation in September 2023, deeming the government's 2024-2029 wolf plan "unacceptable".

The proposition calls for increased support for farmers dealing with livestock loss from wolf attacks, simplified population culling, and an overhaul of the current counting system, which is an estimate drawn up by France's biodiversity authority.

The wolf is categorised as "strictly protected" in the European Union, but France's new plan raises the possibility of reviewing the animal's status.

In September 2023, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned that "the concentration of wolf packs in some European regions has become a real danger for livestock and potentially also for humans".

For conservation groups, however, the dip in the wolf population is a clear sign that efforts to protect the predator are falling short.

The government must "stop advocating downgrading the species’ level of protection".



First Radioactive Rhino Horns to Curb Poaching in South Africa

A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
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First Radioactive Rhino Horns to Curb Poaching in South Africa

A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)
A sedated rhinoceros lies unconscious as professor James Larkin (R) from the University of the Witwatersrand's Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) uses a can of identification spray (DataDot) after carefully implanting dosed and calculated radioisotopes into its horns along with other Rhisotope Project members at an undisclosed location in the Waterbury UNESCO biosphere in Mokopane on June 25, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP)

South African scientists on Tuesday injected radioactive material into live rhino horns to make them easier to detect at border posts in a pioneering project aimed at curbing poaching.

The country is home to a large majority of the world's rhinos and as such is a hotspot for poaching driven by demand from Asia, where horns are used in traditional medicine for their supposed therapeutic effect.

At the Limpopo rhino orphanage in the Waterberg area, in the country's northeast, a few of the thick-skinned herbivores grazed in the low savannah.

James Larkin, director of the University of the Witwatersrand's radiation and health physics unit who spearheaded the initiative, told AFP he had put "two tiny little radioactive chips in the horn" as he administered the radioisotopes on one of the large animals' horns.

The radioactive material would "render the horn useless... essentially poisonous for human consumption" added Nithaya Chetty, professor and dean of science at the same university.

The dusty rhino, put to sleep and crouched on the ground, did not feel any pain, Larkin said.

The radioactive material's dose was so low it would not impact the animal's health or the environment in any way, he said.

In February the environment ministry said that, despite government efforts to tackle the illicit trade, 499 of the giant mammals were killed in 2023, mostly in state-run parks. This represents an 11 percent increase over the 2022 figures.

Twenty live rhinos in total would be part of the pilot Rhisotope project whereby they would be administered a dose "strong enough to set off detectors that are installed globally" at international border posts originally installed "to prevent nuclear terrorism", a pleased Larkin said, sporting a green hat and a khaki shirt.

Border agents often have handheld radiation detectors which can detect contraband in addition to thousands of radiation detectors installed at ports and airports, the scientists said.