 Poster: A snowHead
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 Now believed to be hunting in the Maurienne valley (Savoie), in the region of Saint-Martin d'Arc, according to this France 3 article (in French). A few unconfirmed sightings so far, and since the beginning of the year animal carcasses - roe deer and their young - have been found ever closer to the village. The predator has local hunters worried - unable to kill the newly protected species, they fear their deer hunting quotas may be limited as a result.
I was at Aussois in the Maurienne over the weekend - not a wolf in sight. Plenty of bouquetins (ibex) that you could approach to within just a couple of yards, though.
Experts point out that the wolf does not represent a danger for man - the only reason it has been known to approach the villages during the winter is because prey sometimes becomes scarce in more remote areas.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 22-02-05 16:29; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Plus of course man provides these lovely big dinner tables called dustbins, beloved by scavengers the world over
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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?
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| PG wrote: |
| The predator has local hunters worried - unable to kill the newly protected species, they fear their deer hunting quotas may be limited as a result. |
So they're actually worried that the wolf may kill the deer before they get a chance to do the job themselves 
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The article says local hunters are allowed just 30 or so kills a year - the village Christmas dinner tables simply wouldn't be the same!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I found a fresh wolf print in the snow in the mountain between the Serre Chevalier and the Italian border in November. As it had only snowed for the first time the previous night the tracks were fresh. The area I was walking in is a local picnic spot and only a couple of miles from a town. 6 pairs were introduced 3 years ago to the area.
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I find this quite encouraging.Man has so much to answer for in robbing this planet of many of its natural species.The european wolf was hounded(sorry)into virtual extinction.As PG say's,it is now a protected species.I for one would be delighted to spot on or two roaming over the mountain.
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chris, nearly as exciting as seeing the Golden Eagle when we went out with Lin over the Col du Granon .
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There's a big stink about the Pyrenean bear .
They had big plans to increase the number and bring it back from the edge of extinction by breeding the single remaining female with a similar bear from somewhere else in europe. Plans were scuppered by a hunter who shot the last last female. Last I heard he was banged up with the French president wanting him to get life.
Anyone got any more recent news on it?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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rich, don't know what happened to the chasseur, but none of the local farmers want the bear reintroduced. Still, Chirac is going ahead with the "Plan Ours", as far as I know, they want to double or triple the numbers within a few years. By rights they'll have to rename it the Pyrenean Rumanian Bear, or something.
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There is a bit of misinformatin in this thread. Obviously I don't follow Jacques Chiracs every word but I very much doubt whether he called for life imprisonment for the hunter, René Marquèze. M.Marquèze is being prosecuted for destruction of a protected species. He is claiming "self-defence" but the big question is why he and his buddies went on a boar hunt in a zone known to be inhabited by Canelle? Canelle's had a little 10 month old male bear cub, it is not sure he can survive the harsh winter without his mum.
There are still a lot of female bears (500+?) on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees so Cannelle was far from the last pure Pyrenean bear. Understandably the Spanish (where the bear is also hunted illegally) are not keen for their bears to cross into France where they risk getting shot. Of course for the French media Spain doesn't really exist hence the brouhaha about Canelle being the last Pyrenean bear.
Both bears and wolves are, and have been for a long time, protected under European law. As Snowheads has covered there has recently been a wolf hunt in France of somewhat dubious legality.
Regarding the Wolves in the Alps, these have crossed naturally from Italy where they are left, along with a lot of nature, in a lot more peace than in France. Official estimates are of around 50 wolves in France (less the half dozen recently shot by the state). Wolves and bears were common in the Maurienne until early in the last century when they were hunted to extinction.
Jacques Chirac is in the somewhat dubious position of having lectured to African states about preserving their wild animals and yet presiding over a country which has no real plan how to protect its own wildlife. There is little real political motivation for the reintrocution of bears to the Pyrenean side despite the tourist potential.
French hunters will also shoot walkers, cross-country skiers, mountain bikers and road signs and have several recent kills to their name. I once came across a hunter firing into my back-garden in Biviers - about two hectares, where he has spotted a grouse - my neighbour's kids were also playing in the garden at the time although maybe the bird brained hunter thought they were fair game too.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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.
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You know it makes sense.
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Frosty the Snowman, I think I've ruptured myself laughing at the goats 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Excellent!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Frosty the Snowman, Tears in my eyes, wonderful
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Frosty the Snowman, Thanks for the link, very funny
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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?
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I did play it through about a dozen times, gets funnier each time.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Frosty the Snowman, I must be a Myotonic CP, when I drink 10 pints of 6X this happens to me - thanks for finding out where the problem arises from, I am glad it's hereditary and not a drinking problem 
CP
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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True wolf story:
My Father grew up in Poland and was an army officer between the wars posted on the Russian border.
During one winter he sent out a mounted patrol into the forest.
They never came back and were never found.
The Poles suspected their Russian counterparts.
After the spring thaw their remains were eventually discovered. I say "remains" but it was more like the leftovers.
Everything had been eaten except the metal parts of the uniforms and horses' harnesses; and the metal actions of their rifles.
Flesh, bones, clothes, leather, even the oiled wood on the rifles. All eaten.
Surrounding the area were the empty cartridge cases of every bullet they carried.
They never knew if they had been attacked by wolves or Russians, but they knew they had been eaten by wolves eventually!
My Father was no great fan of wolves!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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rungsp, Was he a Villa man ?
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| Frosty the Snowman wrote: |
| rungsp, Was he a Villa man ? |
he was from Poland not Italy
CP
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Frosty the Snowman,
You're on top form today 
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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.
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More on the Wolves. French sheep farmers claim to have captured 4 wolves in the Mercantour and have released them into cities in the south. The leader said "we have moved the wolves from where they are unwanted to where people want them.
What do you think? I imagine the wolves will either find the scavenging great and adapt to a city lifestyle or they will simply turn tail and head for the hill.
Be interesting to see what the French state do about this. Under the Berne treaty it is illegal to trap a protected species. The farmers are threatening to release 4 wolves in the center of Paris next unless the French wolves are rounded up and shot.
http://ledauphine.com/info/france/art_61373.php - link in French
edited to add URL
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Sun 19-02-06 23:24; edited 1 time in total
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| rungsp wrote: |
Everything had been eaten except the metal parts of the uniforms and horses' harnesses; and the metal actions of their rifles.
Flesh, bones, clothes, leather, even the oiled wood on the rifles. All eaten.
Surrounding the area were the empty cartridge cases of every bullet they carried. |
Yeah I've seen that movie... don't trust the pretty girl in the land rover.
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You know it makes sense.
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davidof, not an expert on wolf prints, are you? There were pints of blood all over the Granges piste today in Les Arcs, plus some sizeable paw prints - photo in blog, towards end...) rob@rar suggested a yeti, but we've got enought tourists on the pistes as it is at the moment 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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| PG wrote: |
| davidof, not an expert on wolf prints, are you? There were pints of blood all over the Granges piste today in Les Arcs, plus some sizeable paw prints - photo in blog, towards end...) rob@rar suggested a yeti, but we've got enought tourists on the pistes as it is at the moment ;-) |
Send me a hi-res photo and I will try to get a 2nd confirmation from a friend who hunts wolves for the National Park (with his camera).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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No 2 son, who nurses fantasises of living in forest with wolves for company (!!!) says it is a wolfprint.
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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?
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A wolf on the Granges piste! Who'd have thought it 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Helen Beaumont wrote: |
| No 2 son, who nurses fantasises of living in forest with wolves. |
Romulus and Remus did it and look where it took them....
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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davidof,
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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davidof, Oh well, when in Rome!
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I like the idea of wolves and bears roaming free throughout the alpes etc but don't know how this sits with farmers and locals. And I do think they should protected with possibly a government sanctioned cull only if they get too great in numbers. Other species are managed like this so maybe wolves and bears can be too. And from the stories above it sounds like the people are more at danger from the hunters than the animals..!!!
When I used to walk my dog I always liked her to try and chase rabbits, and she was keen but they were just way too fast so it was just exercise really, but I came across a Welsh couple who said they noticed an awful lot of rabbits around here, I looked surprised and said as much, and they replied that where they came from they would all have been killed for the pot.... !!!
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| JT wrote: |
| I like the idea of wolves and bears roaming free throughout the alpes etc but don't know how this sits with farmers and locals. |
It ought to sit well, farmers want to see themselves as custodians of the countryside and this is part of it. Locally we've lynx and wolves with bears returning to another part of Switzerland. If the lynx and wolves attack life stock the farmer is compensated in the first couple of instances and if there's a problem developing the individual lynx and wolf is tracked and destroyed.
That's not to say there's not some minor opposition from farmers but broadly they're in favor and it reflects the consensus of public opinion of course. The idea of living in an natural alpine environment where lynx, wolves, bears, big birds of prey, steinbock etc all roam appeals to the Swiss mindset I think which is why there's been these reintroduction programs.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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[quote="ise"]
| JT wrote: |
That's not to say there's not some minor opposition from farmers but broadly they're in favor and it reflects the consensus of public opinion of course. The idea of living in an natural alpine environment where lynx, wolves, bears, big birds of prey, steinbock etc all roam appeals to the Swiss mindset I think which is why there's been these reintroduction programs. |
Are you sure there is a reintroduction program? In France there has not been a reintroduction program for Wolves or Lynx but a limited program for bears (despite claims by the farmers to the contrary), the wolves that exist have simply walked over the border from Italy and there is still a large natural bear population in Spain.... given time and lack of outside pressure they would recolonize all of the Pyrenees.
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FAQ
Frightened the bloody life out of me.Always said a GB sticker was a bad idea 
