VILLEBOIS PINS: Carrying staffs like shepherds, Sophie Morice-Couteau and Geoffroy Galliot inspect the nets of a sheepfold on a steep slope in the Baronnies massif, part of their daily mission to keep wolves away.

The two Bretons are volunteers who signed up to protect the flock belonging to farmer Nathalie Welker in the Drome Provencal, in France’s southeast, from wolf attacks — which have become so common that she feels under “pressure” from the predators.

“The wolves are here, there’s nothing to be done about that, so we need to find a response,” said Welker, 57, wearing a T-shirt that reads: “I’m a farmer and proud of it” as she looked across her sun-drenched valley.

Wolves have made a comeback in Europe, multiplying attacks on livestock and causing angry reactions from farmers, some of whom say the predators should be shot on sight. The European Union recently downgraded wolves from “strictly protected” to “protected”, making such killings easier.

The French government has authorised 192 wolves to be shot this year, out of the country’s total wolf population of 1,013. But some say the killings do little to stop wolf attacks. The best prevention is “a human presence”, said Welker, adding that she had lived alongside wolves for 20 years. But she cannot afford to pay a full-time shepherd to look after her two flocks, and instead turned to an organisation of volunteers, Pastoraloup, three years ago for help.

Pastoraloup is run by the Ferus association, dedicated to the defence of large predators. It trains volunteers and sends them out to farmers who need assistance.

Welker says she can now “sleep at night and be much less stressed”. Meeting people and educating them about farming are a bonus of working with the volunteers.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2025