A large canine has been spotted and presumed to be a wolf, after its image was captured by an automatic camera trap in Normandy, northern France
Experts believe that the animal is possibly a European grey wolf. If they are correct, this would be the first sighting of a wolf in this region of France for over a one hundred years.
According to a local news report, the picture of the lone animal was taken on an infrared camera overnight on April the 7th to the 8th in Londinières, a village northeast of Normandy.
Authorities at the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) say it is likely a Grey Wolf, but have said that additional information would be needed in order to confirm the theory.
“Given the quality of the images provided and considering that many breeds of dogs can have a size and coat colors similar to that of a wolf, this expertise should be considered with some reservation,” the OFB, which was sent images of the suspected wolf on the 12th of April, said in a press release.
“The photo was analyzed by several people experienced in the identification of the wolf and who concluded that there was a high probability,” a spokesperson from the OFB told Newsweek. “However, it cannot 100 percent be said it is a wolf… Only DNA analysis on biological material would remove doubts.”
“This type of observation of an animal alone and far from the areas where the species is installed is characteristic of individuals in the dispersal phase, a phenomenon which occurs twice in the year, in the spring and in the fall,” the OFB said in a press release. According to the OFB, young wolves leave their pack in search of a mate.
“These colonizing individuals can travel several hundreds of kilometers before settling,”
“This explains in particular certain isolated observations, far from known permanent presence zones, as in Seine-Maritime.”
Historically, wolves were common across a large amount of Europe but due to human activity, large populations of the animal started to plummet, and by the twentieth century, the species became locally extinct in many regions of mainland Europe, where they have previously been thriving.
However, recent conservation efforts have helped to re-introduce populations of wolves into Europe, with sightings of the animals reported in almost all of the countries on the European mainland.
All around the world there are being sightings of more animals due to less human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused many nations to implement lockdown measures, keeping the citizens in their homes. As well as a potential benefit for the wildlife in Europe, Breaking News Today have reported in the impacts that these lockdowns are having or Air Pollution in Europe.
