Too many wolves in Switzerland. And sheep farmers are once again asking for selected culling because predators kill a dozen of them a day. As a sign of protest, they dumped the carcasses of the killed animals in front of the Chateau Saint-Maire in Lausanne, the seat of the regional government. The very angry farmers arrived from Saint-Barthélemy, in the canton of Vaud, in western Switzerland, and piled up the dead sheep: “These are the ones from last night,” shouted Eric Herb, a member of a Swiss association calling for regulation of large predators. “It’s time to act. So far we have tolerated but this time it is too much.” “We’re fed up. We want the wolves to be killed”, intervened Patrick Perroud, farmer and butcher from Oulens-sous-Echallens, a village of just six hundred inhabitants who has staked everything on sheep farming. “Coexistence is not possible. Our territory is too small.” The People’s Party, the largest in the country, organized the singular revolt.
After being exterminated at the end of the 19th century, in recent decades wolves have returned through the mountain passes that connect Switzerland to Italy, Austria and France. In 2012 the first herd was spotted in the Alps. There are now thirty-two groups wandering in the woods. And three hundred are the wolves that compose them. Last year, Swiss authorities relaxed rules on hunting protected species and allowed massive preventative killings in the most affected cantons. But in December the judiciary suspended everything due to an appeal from environmentalist associations. Farmers say the proposed cull is vital to protect livestock and the future of Alpine communities.
According to environmentalists, however, “the culling went well beyond what was permitted by law and could decimate the wolf population.” Wolves who, however, are not always “doc”. Because in these packs the “hybrids” are increasing: they are crosses between real wolves and German shepherd specimens. This was demonstrated by the capture of some of these animals and the analysis of the genetic code. “In Tuscany and in some Italian regions, hybrid wolf-dogs represent up to 70% of the packs,” Luigi Boitani, one of Europe’s leading experts, revealed to the British newspaper The Guardian. It was he who captured the first hybrid in 1975. “In some areas, practically all wolf packs are hybrids.” Swiss farmers have asked cantonal authorities that predator populations be controlled “through selective culling”.
#sheep #carcasses #square #Tempo
2024-04-10 19:11:35