Overview
- Defensive shots will be permitted after an attack even if a flock lacked protections, with shooters filing a declaration to the prefecture instead of seeking prior authorization.
- Louvetiers and mobile intervention brigades will be allowed to carry out prélèvements and organize battues to protect herds that are not yet secured.
- The cull quota rises from 19% to a flexible ceiling of up to 23% in 2026, enabling as many as 249 wolves to be killed from an estimated population of 1,082.
- The package includes eased compensation rules that continue payments if a farmer is engaged in a protection plan, with a commitment to implement herd protections within a year.
- The shift follows the EU’s downgrading of the wolf to “protected,” and environmental groups warn of monitoring challenges and possible pack disruption as livestock losses reached about 12,000 nationally in 2025, including 800 in Haute‑Marne.