Overview
- Investigators arrested three people and placed them under judicial control after questioning, with prosecutors saying the suspects will be tried before the correctional court in January 2027; the arrests followed a judicial operation carried out on Tuesday.
- Searches by the Office français de la biodiversité and gendarmes uncovered a mass grave of animals, numerous firearms and at least one wolf carcass, items prosecutors say formed key forensic evidence.
- The probe began after a report of wildlife harm in April 2025 and built through OFB surveillance that found image‑capturing devices near a dwelling and an observation on March 28, 2026 that suggested a wolf had been shot outside legal limits.
- Phone and technical forensics recovered many photographs of dead animals, notably wolves, that investigators say implicate several people and led to six others being questioned and more expected to be summoned to the same hearing.
- The suspects face charges of destruction and complicity in the destruction of a protected species, a case that highlights France’s strict rules on wolf killings which allow lethal action only to defend flocks or under a regulated quotaed removal procedure.