Wolf tail gift 鈥榖ad taste鈥� says French welfare group
A wolf and predator welfare association has denounced a wolf tail that was given by the president of a French council as a leaving gift, as being 鈥渋n very bad taste鈥�.
The F茅rus association - which defends the welfare of large predators including wolves, bears and lynx - present.
It was given by Jean-Marie Bernard, president of the departmental council of the Hautes-Alpes (Provence-Alpes-C么te d'Azur), to outgoing prefect C茅cile Bigot-Dekeyzer, as a leaving gift.
Wolves have been a protected species in France since 1993.
F茅rus has said it will be sending a letter to the public prosecutor to find out where the tail came from, and to lodge an official complaint.
In a press release, : 鈥淲e cannot be anything other than appalled to see this practice from another age in a developed, 21st-century country.鈥�
The association鈥檚 president added a reminder of the environmental code, which states: 鈥淭he detention, mutilation [or] transport of a protected species, whether living or dead, is illegal.鈥�
But council president Mr Bernard said the gift was a 鈥渇riendly gesture鈥�, and a way of saying 鈥測ou may be leaving, but the problem of wolves for farmers in the department has still not been resolved鈥�.
Mr Bernard also gave the same gift to the previous prefect when they left, and said he believes wolves are not an endangered species, and do not need to be protected.
Wolves (as well as bears and lynx) are controversial in some parts of France, as some farmers say they are a dangerous threat to livestock.
