French Sheepmen Mount
Protest Over Wolves

NICE, France — U.S. livestock producers aren’t alone in their concerns about the re-emergence of stock-killing wolves.

Officials, a clutch of shepherds and a flock of 2000 sheep paraded down Nice's chic Promenade des Anglais on recently in a demonstration aimed at protecting the pastoral life from encroaching wolves.

Demonstrators said they feared the return of wolves to the lower Alps in the southeast corner of France where shepherding thrives and wolves are reappearing.

Since 1992, wolves have killed an estimated 2000 sheep in the region that had been wolf-free, the protesters said.

Adrien Lotto, mayor of Sainte-Etienne de Tinee in the Alpes-Maritimes, where Nice is located, said France must choose.

"Either we want shepherds and mountain gardeners or we want that to disappear — and leave in its place these predators," he told the crowd gathered in downtown Nice.

The regional Center for Young Farmers, which organized the demonstration, wants wolves to be enclosed in designated areas, far from the helpless flocks of sheep.

The demonstrators drew several thousand people as they ambled down the boardwalk that fronts the Mediterranean.

Shepherds then settled their sheep and installed information stands in a downtown plaza, passed out grilled meats to the crowd and gave demonstrations on how to lead a flock.