A wolf has reportedly been spotted in Normandy for the first time in a century.
The apparent European grey wolf was caught on camera as it walked alone through the hamlet of Villeneuve, in Seine-Maritime near the Channel coast.
Experts at the French Biodiversity Office, which monitors the population of wolves there, said that this sighting was very probably a grey wolf, according to FranceInfo.
They said that local resident David Desjardins had set up a camera that is activated by a motion sensor, to take pictures of any animals which went past.
It captured the ‘wolf’ at 1.50am on April 8.
The Prefecture of Seine-Maritime cautioned however that ‘considering that many breeds of dogs can present a size and shades of coat similar to that of a wolf, that this expertise is to be considered with some reservations.’
Wolves returned to France via Italy in the 1990s, starting in the Southern Alps.
They settled on the country’s mountain ranges but have been seen far from the Alps, such as in Indre, Eure-et-Loir, Somme and Charente-Maritime in western France.
Local authorites appealed for any witnesses to come forward with sightings or information about attacks on livestock, saying: ‘Any suspected sighting of a large dog or any attack on a domestic flock should be reported promptly to the OFB’s Seine-Maritime departmental service.’
Wolves may travel long distances during the spring and in autumn, when they may go in search of a partner to reproduce or be forced out of their pack by younger males. They often travel several hundred miles before settling.
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