A driver will be summoned by the justice for trying to crush a wolf who was crossing a road, said Sunday the prosecutor's office of Annecy in a statement.

The defendant was heard for the facts of attempted destruction of a protected species, an offense punishable by 3 years imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros, says the prosecutor's office, which recalls that "the wolf (Canis lupus) is a strictly protected species in France" and that "the environmental code provides that the attempt at destruction is punishable at the same level as destruction".

A survey by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB)

An investigation had been opened following the receipt in March by the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB) of a video showing a vehicle trying to run over a wolf, says the prosecutor. It showed "a driver who deliberately changed his route and voluntarily moved to the opposite lane in order to hit the animal crossing the road. The driver missed by a few centimeters the wolf who fled by passing in extremis under a fence ".

The investigation carried out by environmental inspectors, who used surveillance cameras from the departmental road network, made it possible to identify the place and the perpetrator. The latter is now "summoned before the criminal court of Annecy to answer for his acts".

  • Miscellaneous facts
  • Haute-Savoie
  • Annecy
  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
  • Rhône-Alpes
  • Wolf
  • Threatened species