French farmers kidnap park bosses over deadly wolf attacks

French farmers kidnapped the head of a national park, demanding tougher action over wolf attacks on sheep.

About 50 farmers held the head of the National Park of Vanoise in the French Alps against his will, along with the park’s director.

They took the drastic move to kidnap Guy Chaumereuil and Emmanuel Michau following an emergency public meeting on the park’s new charter, according to reports in the French media.

See also: Sheep flock to Eiffel Tower in wolf attack protest

Anger has been simmering in recent years among French farmers, who have seen an increase in sheep being slaughtered by wolves.

Over the summer, farmers said there have been more than 130 deadly wolf attacks on sheep in the park, where up to 1,500 sheep graze.

According to the French agriculture ministry, last year about 2,800 sheep were killed in the Alpes-Maritimes department, a region that has been affected most by wolf attacks.

The wolf almost became extinct in France in the 1930s, but re-entered the country from Italy in the 1990s.

Wildlife officials estimate there are about 250-300 wolves in France and about 90% of these are in the French Alps. But wolves have no natural predator and are a protected species in France under the Bern Convention on European Wildlife.

In recent years, the French government has authorised limited culling of wolves in areas where populations are high.

But farmers are calling on the government to step in and introduce tougher measures to prevent further wolf attacks on their livestock.

France’s leading national farmers’ union, the FDSEA, said in a statement: “Farmers are demanding the authorisation to kill wolves in the heart of the park and to establish effective means to remove five wolves by the end of the year.”

French National Assembly member Philippe Meunier said government measures to prevent attacks had not gone far enough.

He called on the state to “allow the hunting of wolves in the framework of a controlled management as it already did for the regulation of the big game”.

On Wednesday (2 September), local authorities announced plans to cull six wolves in and around the National Park of Vanoise by 31 December – a decision taken in response to the emergency meeting.