One of the two wolves killed last March in the Vaudois Jura was not the right one. Only one came from the Marchairuz pack, within which the canton of Vaud had received authorization from the Confederation to put two individuals to death.
After carrying out parentage analyses, it emerged that the wolf killed on March 18 was “a male under three years old, from unidentified parents, and who was not related to any known pack in Switzerland”, announced Friday. the State of Vaud in a note sent to the media.
The second wolf killed on March 28 was part of the Marchairuz pack. The parents of this young wolf, aged 7 to 11 months, are the breeding pair of the pack.
Complex operation
“This shows that the targeted shooting of wolves is complex”, remarks Denis Rychner, communication adviser at the Directorate General for the Environment, contacted by Keystone-ATS. He points out that the decision to shoot is made “solely on the basis of visual observation, at night, of individuals moving.”
The “intensive monitoring” of the wolf – photo or video traps, acoustic recorders and other genetic analyzes – allows to have a good representation of the territory of the pack, continues Denis Rychner. “Despite everything, there will always be unknowns and imponderables,” he admits.
Note that this is not the first time that a “bad” wolf has been put to death. At the end of July, Valais had also announced that a young individual, killed in March as part of the regulation of the Val d’Hérens pack, was not related to this pack.
Attacks on the rise
Vaud received the green light from the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in August 2021 – a first in the canton – to kill two young individuals from the Marchairuz pack. These regulation shots had been called for because of the increase in attacks on livestock.
However, these first shots did not have the desired effect. Since the beginning of this summer, the attacks have become even more frequent. Since the end of June, eleven young cattle, seven goats and four sheep have been killed by wolves in the Vaud pastures, according to the canton’s online count.
The latest victim is a young bovine, found dead on Wednesday in the Begnines region, in the town of Arzier-le-Muids.
New shots
At the end of July, the Council of State reacted by ordering the killing of a lone wolf in the Vaudois Alps. At the same time, he had requested a new authorization to regulate the Marchairuz pack. If the Confederacy agrees, it is now the parent male of this pack who can be killed.
“Discussions are underway with the FOEN regarding the regulation request”, indicates Denis Rychner. For the Alpine wolf, photo traps were placed in the perimeter “to ensure the precise location of the individual”, he adds.
This article has been published automatically. Source: ats