When wolf defenders help shepherds monitor sheep

It is 8 p.m. and the day ends on the Albion plateau. But for Patrick Nectoux, work is just beginning. With a decided step, he heads for the two enclosures where 350 sheep and five patous await him. His first task, feed these imposing dogs responsible for protecting sheep from wolf. “This allows you to reconnect, because I haven’t seen them from the day”Explains the sixty -something, by filling the bowls with kibble.

And “Moment of exchange” Especially since Patrick Nectoux has only known these dogs for five days. He is neither a shepherd nor a breeder. He is not an enemy of the wolf, quite the contrary. This retirement laboratory assistant is voluntary for the Ferus association, which defends major predators in France. He participates in the program PastoralMounted by the association in 1999 to help breeders monitor the herds.

This week in Revest-du-Bion (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) is its first surveillance mission. Patrick Nectoux has signed up because he did not want “Stay your arms crossed” Faced with the political and agricultural offensive to weaken the level of protection of the wolf. Shortly after our report, Emmanuel Macron even called to kill more. “It is possible to live with the wolf, but it will require an effort, and instead of making this effort there, we prefer to take the rifle”regrets Patrick Nectoux.

After a first round of the two enclosures to verify that everything is fine, the volunteer settles in his tent, planted a few meters from the fences. He adjusts his alarm clock for the next round, in two hours if the patous does not wake him up before. “You have to react very quickly from the dog alarm, otherwise it can be too late”he justifies.

One in the morning. Patrick Nectoux comes out of his tent. In the moonless night, he begins his round. At regular intervals, it illuminates the forest and howls the cantonnade of sentences like “Station to wolves” Or “It’s Pat’patou!”. “It is very important, the light, showing that we are there. The voice, and then he will feel us too”he justifies.

The wolf did not come that evening, but it is not far away. On June 23, two days before our arrival, he killed three sheep on the territory of the town. Patrick Nectoux is also convinced that the canine approached the herd a few days earlier. “The dogs were there, to be strongly bark, really fixed on this part of the forest”he says, designating the trees bordering the enclosure.

At one point, the dogs stopped, the sheep were very calm … Total silence, and then steps in the dead leaves … I assumed it was him.

Patrick Nectoux, volunteer of the association Ferus

At daybreak, the volunteer passes the relay to the breeder. That morning, Pascal Petit has a lot of work: you have to examine the sheep one by one before departure in summer, scheduled for the end of the week. Some have wounds on the foot, others the holes – the “sheep shoe” – too long. The animal must be returned and cut the horn to the pruning sheer. Physical work:“We can’t work the animals during the day and watch your herd at night”estimates the breeder.

Thanks to the program, wolf defenders and sheep breeders also get to know each other better and overcome their prejudices. “My obsession was to meet fanatic ecologists, as in Notre-Dame-des-Landes et Compagnie. And no, they are normal people, with normal and very balanced minds”testifies Pascal Petit. Patrick Nectoux recognizes that there are sometimes “Oppositions” But that there is above all “understanding”.

First developed in the Alps, the Pastoraloup program exists today in the Jura, in Brittany and in the lot. About 700 volunteers were trained to carry out these surveillance missions. “It’s not just about breeders to carry the return of the wolfConsiders Fannie Malet, head of pastoraloup. This program is an outstretched hand “.

She recognizes that these surveillance is not “A miracle solution” But claims good results: almost 16,000 nights and days of monitoring, with attacks or attempted attacks in less than 1% of cases. Pascal Petit him is more convinced by this solution than by the rifle. “It is better that the wolf is protecting and that we help us, rather that it passes in harmful and that we do not help usAnalysis the breeder, before slipping: The wolf is like everything, it has the right to exist “.