Nineteen sheep killed, fear of wolves grows in Haute-Marne

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A massacre on Christmas Day. This is the sad spectacle discovered by Sébastien Clerc, resident of Haute-Marne, who filmed the scene. He says: “As I arrived at the bottom of the pasture, I started to see the first sheep that were bleeding. There were two, three sheep that were still standing, blood everywhere, some had their throats slit. I tell you, it was chaos, really chaos to see that. It’s shocking even.”

Of the 30 sheep in the flock, 19 were killed and 4 seriously injured. The culprit would be an animal filmed by an automatic camera in the early morning. According to the breeder, it was most likely a wolf. The French Biodiversity Office, responsible for the report, largely shares this hypothesis. Attacks are indeed increasing in the department.

Bruno Binon, father of the attacked breeder, did not think his son would be affected: “We knew there were wolf attacks. But at home, the fence had been redone, electrified. Until now, we thought we were going to get through, but the result of the races, we didn’t get through.”

In Haute-Marne, nearly 150 wolf attacks have been recorded this year. The animal is establishing itself permanently in the department, with the first births confirmed in the spring. For specialists, it is precisely these new colonization zones which present the greatest risk.

Farid Benhammou, geographer and specialist in large carnivores, explains: “One of the major reasons why we have so much damage in these areas is that, as it is a colonization front, we have not yet put in place basic protection measures. Some can take a long time. For example, placing a protection dog can take at least two years.”

In the meantime, he recommends strengthening the human presence around the herds. This attack is the worst ever recorded in Haute-Marne since the return of the wolf.