
The Mende public prosecutor's office opens an investigation; a breeder had already been sentenced in June for the poisoning of seven wolves in the same park.
AI-generated summary
The Gévaudan Wolf Park, opened in 1985, is one of the largest parks in Europe. Canines were poisoned there in 2024 and 2025. At the end of June, a young neighboring breeder was given a two-year suspended prison sentence for having poisoned seven wolves in the park with rat poison. The wolf has made a big comeback in recent years in France, arousing the anger of breeders who denounce attacks on herds. In Lozère, a very rural department, the killing of wolves is prohibited in the natural environment except for the defense of herds, with controlled shooting. At the end of 2024, the European Union lowered the level of protection for the wolf, which is no longer a strictly protected species.
The Mende public prosecutor's office has opened a new investigation after the death of two wolves in an animal park in Lozère where canines were poisoned in 2024 and 2025, the prosecutor told AFP on Friday. Contacted by AFP, Roger Crueyze, director of the Selo (Departmental Mixed Economy Society) which manages the Gévaudan Wolf Park, confirmed the death of two wolves “in recent days”, specifying that an autopsy was in progress.
The public prosecutor, Valéry Morron, added in an email that the investigation had been entrusted to the gendarmerie. Furthermore, Roger Crueyze informed the AFP that "a zootechnician and other staff would have received threats, insults and the zootechnician would have been pushed." At the end of June, a young breeder was sentenced in Mende to a two-year suspended prison sentence for having poisoned seven wolves in the same park with rat poison.
One of the largest parks in Europe
At the head of a farm of 300 cattle, the breeder living with his parents is next to the park, where tourists can observe wolves from Poland, Mongolia, Canada and the Arctic. While the wolves that live in the Lozère nature are of Italian origin, this park opened in 1985, one of the largest in Europe, is regularly criticized by agricultural unions, in particular since a few specimens briefly escaped in 2016 following malicious intent.
The wolf, which was exterminated at the beginning of the 20th century in several countries, has made a comeback in recent years, arousing the anger of breeders who denounce attacks on herds, particularly in Lozère, a very rural department. In France, the killing of wolves is prohibited in the wild, except for the purposes of defending herds. A procedure is defined for “sampling shots”, i.e. regardless of the attack on a herd in progress. A maximum number of wolves that can be killed is set each year, out of a population estimated at just over a thousand individuals.
At the end of 2024, the European Union lowered the level of protection for the wolf, which was until then a “strictly protected” species, thus going in the direction of breeders despite the outcry from environmental associations.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The gendarmerie will identify those responsible for the death of the two wolves and the threats against park staff.
Possible · Within weeks
New legal proceedings could be initiated against the perpetrators of the poisonings and threats.
Possible · Within months
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