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Jesse C. McEntee's avatar

Amazing human-animal dynamic that's complicated by climate change. Thank you for an informative post.

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Alternative Lives R Available's avatar

I used to live in Haute Provence ( the southern Alps in France), and particularly in the large Mercantour National Park on the Italian border, wolves were both reintroduced and found there since 1992. The local Department encouraged the programme and so introduced compensation for shepherds who lost sheep to wolves, along with a comprehensive system of sheep carcass analysis (and scientists to administer it), DNA wolf identification, tracking and monitoring of packs and individuals, and a public campaign to reassure people, particularly farmers and shepherds.

Of course the local Press would still feature wolf attacks on sheep and predict disaster, but in general the broad consensus seems to be that it has been a good thing, not least because the compensation for a dead sheep killed by wolves has been generous!

All that said, the burgeoning wolf population does cause fear, even though it is actually very, very hard to spot one. I know, I have tried when living there and they are notoriously shy of humans - easy enough in such a wild, mountainous and empty area.

If you are interested in the interactions between men and wolves, especially in America, may I recommend the book by the naturalist Barry Lopez, called 'Of Wolves And Men'. It combines history, harsh realism and poetic prose as no other.

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