Wolves!
This is Mont Joly near St Gervais from a web cam on a ski lift. They came from Italy.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Beautiful! Quite a regular occurrence now to be spotted in In a lot of France.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Indeed, I remember when two years ago, a few wolves were photographed on a piste in Le Reposoir where kids were having a small U8 race the previous weekend...
Looks like we have to learn to share the alpages again, not something that happened in France for many generations.
We've seen deer crossing the piste where it is wooded a bit below there. Perhaps the wolves were looking for them.
When you say they came from Italy, do you mean they have now emigrated and set up home in France, or that their forays go as far as Mont Joly? It is probably only 9 or 10 km from the nearest border point - but that means crossing a col well over 3000 m. It's over 30 km by the standard Tour du Mont Blanc route.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
The BBC showed a programme a couple of years ago about a She Wolf travelling from the Italian Alps (Dolomites?) to the French Alps.
Not sure if it is on 'Catch-up'....
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
How nice! Cool!
I once saw some sort of large vole from a chairlift dodging skiers on the piste below... not nearly as exciting.
After all it is free
After all it is free
They'll be happy the lifts are closed.
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E’paul is at very edge of resort but great to see wildlife
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In Ellmau last year my daughter and I were walking in the woods above the town and a few hundred metres from the nearest piste. She saw what she SWEARS was a wolf (she is only 12 and nervous of big dogs). I thought she must have been mistaken but in the next hour we didn’t see or hear a dog walker - or anyone at all. I guess it’s not entirely impossible that she was right?
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
In Ellmau last year my daughter and I were walking in the woods above the town and a few hundred metres from the nearest piste. She saw what she SWEARS was a wolf (she is only 12 and nervous of big dogs). I thought she must have been mistaken but in the next hour we didn’t see or hear a dog walker - or anyone at all. I guess it’s not entirely impossible that she was right?
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Not impossible, I saw some footage from a webcam outside a chalet in Meribel of some wolves playing around a couple of years back. 100% wolves.
Led me on to some internet research on where wolves are roaming in Europe and turns out they are as far north as Belgium and The Netherlands after an absence of 140 years or so!
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Searching for sheeps to eat.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Soozm wrote:
In Ellmau last year my daughter and I were walking in the woods above the town and a few hundred metres from the nearest piste. She saw what she SWEARS was a wolf (she is only 12 and nervous of big dogs). I thought she must have been mistaken but in the next hour we didn’t see or hear a dog walker - or anyone at all. I guess it’s not entirely impossible that she was right?
Five dead goats near Kirchdorf
Five dead and one injured goat were reported from Kirchdorf in the district of Kitzbühel, according to the information sent out by the Tyrol. In the course of an official veterinary assessment, "indications of the involvement of a wolf were found". At the beginning of June, eleven goats had already been torn by a wolf in the Kirchdorf municipal area. The sheep wounds in Kaiserwinkel were also attributed to this wolf.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@jbob, Simon skinned up to the Tête de Balme yesterday following Woolf tracks much of the way. Woof woof!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@HammondR, so maybe they really were doing the Tour du Mont Blanc (clockwise version)! According to the map they were on one of the "variante" diversions of the Tour, which of course has La Balme on the standard route.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I see your wolves and raise you black bears on a snowless piste - seen under the chairlift going up to the glacier for a summer ski in Whistler.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I have shown this thread to my now 13 year old and she feels vindicated!
I’ve always wondered what animals think of us, and now, what wolves and voles might think of skiers. Although, I doubt their communication ability is up to any kind of serious in-depth discussion.
Salzburg has a wolf commissioner. There were problems last year
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
AL9000 wrote:
pam w wrote:
They'll be happy the lifts are closed.
I’ve always wondered what animals think of us, and now, what wolves and voles might think of skiers. Although, I doubt their communication ability is up to any kind of serious in-depth discussion.
There was a newsbit yesterday about birds not impressed by the lifts (in Peisey, Paradiski). As in, they don't notice them, and pisters find dead birds under some cables. I knew towers in Canary Wharf were a problem at night due to lights, but this came as a surprise.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Kenzie wrote:
I see your wolves and raise you black bears on a snowless piste - seen under the chairlift going up to the glacier for a summer ski in Whistler.
I see your bear and raise a Snow Leopard !! (been posted before, but worth another look )
I've never seen a snow leopard in ski resort or otherwise.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
I was ravaged by a cougar in a Sauze D'Oulx nightclub many years ago. Does that count?
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Pruman wrote:
I was ravaged by a cougar in a Sauze D'Oulx nightclub many years ago. Does that count?
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
wonderful to see the wolves moving slowly back through Europe & can only hope that farmers are financially reimbursed by the government for eventual loss of any 'farm' animals. I was lucky to see a black bear, probably emerging from hibernation, on a piste above Whistler (even luckier that I was on the chair lift
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Huge point of contention in Switzerland. Farmers are recompensed for animals that they can prove were taken by wolves, but the proof is onerous, the farmers obviously claim overly so. We spent part of the summer at an alpage with our dog who is a trainee herding dog, accompanied by 300 sheep, 30 goats and an assortment of dogs (5 australians, 2 kangal, and our beauceron). The kangals are there exclusively as wolf / predator defense for the herd, and their presence is testament to the growing awareness of the wolf population. Much of the conversation was skewed as the people we were with all own livestock, their main point was that wolves were a threat to the alpage way of life and that either people would have to get used to the return of protection dogs like Kangals (who are very good at their job) or get used to no more animals at pasturage in the alps. The pendulum has correctly swung in favour of protection of the wolves, but proper compensation needs to be there for farmers who lose animals to wolf attacks and also wild dog attacks - there's a theory that some czech wolf dogs were released into the wild in valais and that these are responsible for many of the larger herd attacks. Its a really interesting topic!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Just received a little more wolf detail from my Le Buet chums.
She found the tracks of a single wolf heading up towards the Possettes from Le Buet. Photos of the paw prints and poo with un digested berries in it were convincing. It was this track which her partner followed on Friday high up. The track was basically a straight line from Le Buet over the hills to the Swiss border.
It has been reported that a shepherd at Le Tour lost 19 sheep to wolves in one night. Big appetites.
One upside is the wildlife which flourishes in wolf country. 2 years ago we saw a Bearded Vulture right above us at the head of the Berard Valley. Incredible. They eat quite a bit of wolf leftovers.
Then again, there was a Bearded Vulture near Sheffield in the summer....
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
The wiki list of wolf attacks on humans around the world from 100s of years ago to this day is a gruesome read. France having suffered 1000s of deaths over time with the likes of the Beast of Gevaudan and nationwide wolf packs with no predators taking peasants and the unwary at will. Before There was a reason they were hunted to a manageable level in Western Europe after bringing so much death and fear. In Eastern Europe today and other places hunters get paid per wolf such is the very real threat as proven through wiki pages and elsewhere. I shake my head in disbelief hearing people following wolf tracks because if they come across a hungry pack, things will get real! Rapidly and fatality. You can’t protect yourself unarmed against even 2 Eurasian wolves In sustained attack mode going for the neck and to out ski them one would have to beable to straight line a black run to stand a chance. Quite a few wolf attacks are listed as rapid ( but more are listed as predatory) where they bite anything fast and furiously and would easily tear in to a place like a packed folie Duce in their madness. Having large shepherding dogs roam the mountains and plateaus is not exactly safe either, one wrong move or a household dog setting the guard instinct off in one of these Kangals its toast again.
The danger is real and people should think about protecting themselves if they plan to venture into the wolves habitats which intertwines with ours.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Maybe it was Wolf excrement on the slopes in Andorra and not from a Dog as we first thought...
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
AL9000 wrote:
oneglove wrote:
. In Eastern Europe today and..
Like where, specifically?
Karpathian mountains, Transylvania, Kainuu forest Finland, Bialoweiza forest Poland, Stockholm Sweden, Coa valley Portugal, Pindus mountain Greece, Sierra de la Culbra mountains in Greece, south Netherlands, Germany. They’re everywhere in Europe 12,000 strong concentrated in the north and east. Then there’s the 2000 in Ukraine and 30-45,000 in Russia. They are not protected in the last two countries and bounties are paid to hunters in some regions because of the whole dining on poor locals thing. The people that live around large populations of wolves know it would be as dangerous to walk in the forest alone and unprotected as the Africans know not to go swimming in parts of the Nile or where lions dens are. Wolves have been eating us for centuries in the alps and it’s absurd to think they’ll change their ways because we are more ‘woke’.
Looking at the massive size of those 2 Gray wolves, nose down and tracking something in the first picture. really brings it home how difficult it would be to wrestle them into submissions on skis, I think snow blades would be better in this circumstance. Plus the wolves might be so embarrassed for you to approach.
only way to tackle them would be to attack them with the sharp edge of your skis and hope there werent more than two of them, never turn and run, I have faced down a raging bull twice which is a much bigger animal but no teeth, wouldnt rate my chances with a wolf very high, still if the mrs was with me I would only have to ski off faster than her
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
My father was from Poland and before WW2 he commanded a company of cavalry operating on the northern part of the border with Ukraine.
One time a patrol went out mid winter and did not return, deep snow.
When the melt came their "remains" were found:
The metal parts of the harnesses and rifles, along with the spent cartridge cases of all the ammunition they had.
Nothing at all remained of their bodies, the horse bodies, their uniforms and even the wooden (oil treated) parts of their guns.
The verdict was wolves, lots of wolves
After all it is free
After all it is free
AL9000 wrote:
oneglove wrote:
. In Eastern Europe today and..
Like where, specifically?
Some info, pulled from the Local fr to be honest, about the wolf situation in France in 2019. Sounds a lot of dead animals but I suppose there could be an element of inflation by farmers who get compensated. Equally there could be a few more wolves dispatched on the quiet by angry farmers.
"But wolves have also been detected recently in the Pyrenees mountains that separate France and Spain.
The population growth has infuriated French farmers who say the predators are decimating their flocks, despite a series of measures financed by the state to limit the damage and compensation owners for losses.
Last year 3,674 wolf attacks led to the deaths of some 12,500 animals, mainly sheep.
Under a "Wolf Plan" adopted in 2018, the "viability threshold" of 500 animals, the level at which the population is likely to avoid becoming at risk of extinction over a 100-year period, wasn't expected to be reached until 2023.
Projections of rapid growth had already prompted President Emmanuel Macron to announce in March that 17 to 19 percent of the population would be culled each year, up from 10 to 12 percent.
"We now consider that the wolf is no longer a species at risk of extinction, which is a good thing in terms of biodiversity," Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume said Wednesday.
"However in terms of the high levels of preying... we have to fully and strongly support our farmers. Their well-being is our priority," he said.
The government's administrator for the Rhone department of southeast France said Friday it was lifting the 2019 cull limit to 53 animals - 38 have already been killed so far this year."
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Context is king.
No need for hysteria.
Human deaths on average, per year, worldwide in 21st century.
Dog = 25,000
Wolf = 10
Even at the peak of the global wolfpack, from 1000 to 1900, global human deaths averaged no more than 100-300 per year.
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Spotted this handsome specimen at the local ski hill. He definitely acted like it was his ski resort
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