Loupiness

Man is wolf to Man, of course, but in France, to which the wolf in its most literal form, Canis lupus, has recently returned (from Italy, as it happens), Man is definitely not wolf to wolf. In fact the penalty for killing a wolf in France is a fine of up to €150,000 and imprisonment for up to seven years. Murderers escape the fine and sometimes spend less time in prison.

I suppose this tells us, or at least it tells economists, who are not the same as the rest of us, something about the scarcity value of wolves as against men. There are estimated to be approximately 300 wolves in France at the moment, and they are increasing in number by a fifth every year. Of course, a projection is not a prediction, but if this trend continued, there would be 11,500 wolves in twenty years’ time, killing nearly a third of a million sheep a year. In early modern France, there were thought to be 15,000 wolves in the country.

I first became aware of the wolf question when I noticed a slogan…