Tuesday, March 7 morning, the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) was contacted by the federation of hunters of Gard for a dead animal resembling a wolf found in a trap, by an approved trapper, in the town of Barjac. The One Voice association had announced to file a complaint. The autopsy confirms that it was indeed a she-wolf according to the Gard prefecture.
“The animal is a young female, and all the technical elements found on the body point to the species Gray wolf (Canis lupus).” Here are the first results communicated by the Gard prefecture following the autopsy of the animalresembling a wolf found in a trap, by an approved trapper, in the town of Barjac, on March 7 in the morning.
Ecarried out in the presence of the services of the Departmental Directorate of Territories and the Sea (DDTM) and the OFB, lautopsy revealed that the wolf, weighing 23 kgs, was in poor physical condition (bone callus, brittle hair, no subcutaneous fat, tapeworm, etc.).
protected animal
The wolf being a protected animal, a legal inquiry was opened to determine the circumstances and conditions of this capture and the death of the animal.
Organ samples were taken for further analysis, as well as DNA samples. These will confirm the species and the original population of this animal. Results are expected in several weeks.
Dispersion phenomenon
“This type of observation of a wolf, in an area with no previously known presence, is characteristic of the phenomenon of dispersion specific to the species, adds the prefecture. Young individuals, males or females, indeed leave their pack of birth. to colonize new territories in the fall or spring.
These dispersing animals can then make movements of several hundred kilometers in search of a partner, these movements leading them to cross sectors where the species is not installed.
