Wolf shot after attack complaints

Female is the first to be killed under authorisation, despite six such orders to kill being made since 2008.

A WOLF shot in the Haute-Savoie is the first to be killed by state hunters.

Since 2008, six authorisations to kill wolves have been issued in areas in France but none of them have resulted in a death.

A spokesman for the Haute-Savoie prefecture, which authorised the killing, said: “Many wolf attacks have taken place in this sector since the start of the year, to the detriment of local farmers, who are angry.”

The wolf was killed in Glières, just over 20km from the town of Thônes, where in April several thousand people marched in protest at the number of wolf attacks in the area.

The Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage says there were 150 wolves living in France at the beginning of 2008, mainly in areas in and around the Alps.

Photo: Gérard von Drunen