PARIS – French officials have approved the killing of roughly 200 wolves after the animals began expanding into agricultural regions and venturing close to major metropolitan areas, the nation’s Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard announced Friday.
With approximately 1,000 wolves currently living throughout France, government officials raised the permitted killing threshold to 21 percent – totaling just over 200 animals – up from the previous 19 percent limit. Genevard indicated the percentage could climb as high as 23 percent if needed.
“The wolf is causing increasing damage to our livestock farms, plunging farmers into a state of stress and even terrible pain,” Genevard stated during an interview with France Inter radio.
The decision follows a heated dispute last year between agricultural groups and wildlife advocates regarding wolves, whose population and livestock attacks have both increased significantly. The conflict concluded with European Parliament members voting to support farmers’ concerns.
In May, European legislators decided to reduce the wolf’s classification from “strictly protected” to “protected” status. This change permits EU member nations to authorize wolf hunting while still requiring measures to prevent the species from becoming endangered.
The European Commission justified the status change by citing comprehensive research showing wolf numbers are growing throughout the EU, with approximately 20,300 wolves documented in 2023. This population increase has resulted in greater livestock damage across member countries.
Within France, wolf numbers continue climbing as the animals return to territories they abandoned hundreds of years ago, when they retreated to isolated locations like remote Alpine valleys.
Genevard pointed to the Haute-Marne region in central France as an example, located just 60 kilometers from cities including Nancy, Dijon and Troyes, where agricultural producers reported wolves killed 850 sheep during the previous year.
