Future Research

Hunting and Wolf Populations
The Wolf Threat to Human Populations
Takings of Domestic Animals and Game
Rabies Epidemics and Attacks
Human Attempts to Eradicate Wolves

In this long-term investigation, wolves serve to indicate conflicts between man and animal, but also to reveal different types of territorial management. The methodology applied involves two approaches: the quantitative approach, which establishes duly criticised data series and uses the serial processing of information, and the qualitative approach, which is sensitive to the specificity of accounts and the value of depictions. Both approaches use spatial context on various scales as a validity criteria.

By using the corpus of data on wolf victims collected here and expanding it to other data series, research can move forward in five directions:

Hunting and Wolf Populations

Aside from a few pieces of information about the very end of the 18th century, we know nothing about the density and fluctuation of wolf populations, until species numbers fell during the 19th century. This gap is an obstacle to our understanding of the animal’s impact on the environment, as well as of the “problem” that it caused in past societies. However, for certain French regions in the Ancien Régime period (the 16th to 18th centuries) and even the end of the Middle Ages, efforts to hunt wolves can be traced, with sources sometimes being as plentiful as for the 19th century. The precision of information taken from the first rewards offered for killing wolves allows us to make simple observations and evaluate the impact of human actions (hunting and agro-pastoral activities) on the fate of the species, but also to assess the perception or depiction of the wolf threat against flocks and herds. By situating cub catches, it is possible to sketch out a map of pack presence. This, along with an analysis of the numbers of she-wolves killed over several consecutive years, allows us to make hypotheses and estimates about wolf populations during the best-documented historical series. In order to make cartographic and quantified analyses, several databases will be required.

The Wolf Threat to Human Populations

Here, analysis requires the identification and evaluation of how the area in which recorded attacks took place evolved and varied over time. Behind this work is an analysis of the deaths attributed to “flesh-hungry” wolves and other “ferocious beasts” in all French departments since the first localisable indications, at the end of the Middle Ages. The identification of healthy predators which scavenged on flesh, particularly human flesh, requires an in-depth comparative analysis. The trail of sources, which is highly scattered, becomes very plentiful from the second half of the 17th century. This approach allows us to perceive the nature and area of spaces of conflict, but also to assess the extent of the threat according to the ways in which territories were occupied and managed, and to observe the variations between different periods and socio-political contexts. The links with population movement, malnutrition, and army movements require further explanation. A multi-scale cartography and a detailed chronology of attack hotbeds will provide a reference for the 15th to the 20th centuries. Comparisons between regions will extend beyond France, to take into account existing research on other European spaces.

Takings of Domestic Animals and Game

This approach allows us to assess the impact of wolf predation on agriculture in general, according to the different agro-pastoral ecosystems (extensive or intensive) and the ways of keeping livestock (individual or collective). Compared to the sporadic but recurring threat to humans, the threat to livestock was more generalized and lasting. It is necessary to examine the facts from this particular angle. In general, it was this danger to livestock that justified the fight against wolves. It is therefore important to assess it.
Based on the reasons for which hunts were requested and the motivations behind regulations on wolf hunting, it is possible to establish a timeline of wolf pressure on agriculture. On a large scale, the examination of complaints records (with registers of grievances providing a key example for the end of the 18th century) and compensation claims allows us to better our understanding. We can thus identify tolerance thresholds in alimentary or recreational competition between hunters and wolves.

Rabies Epidemics and Attacks

The transmission of a deadly and (until 1885) untreatable illness by wild carnivores goes some way towards explaining the danger that wolves long represented for man. For a long time, wolves were dangerous transmitters of rabies: until 1887, our corpus provides data on this type of attacks, which are easily identified in sources. The attacks threatened humans, wild animals, and domestic animals. Unlike attacks by healthy animals, those by rabid wolves extended over a much greater period and space. Globally, biologists acknowledged this danger. The history of rabid wolves is worth examining: studying it on both large and small scales is of great interest in the history of medicine. Unlike rabies among reservoir species like dogs, foxes or bats, rabies among wolves has not been studied in depth. Our investigation provides a unique opportunity to advance the history of human and veterinary medicine. The approach used, which is both clinical (reading past descriptions of rabies) and quantitative, allows us to see how the illness spread, and its local consequences. It shows the chronological and spatial evolution of rabies outbreaks and epizootic years. A data corpus can be established to measure incubation periods for the illness in humans, according to the injuries suffered. This research perspective allows us to look at how the recurrence of this incurable illness until Pasteur relates to climate and agro-environmental conditions. It requires collaboration between epidemiologists and veterinarians, in order to make a retrospective diagnosis.

Human Attempts to Eradicate Wolves

Since ancient times and undoubtedly before, humans have attempted to control the threat that wolves represented for their activities and their safety. The effort to eradicate wolves continued over the centuries. There was an official policy of hunts and poisonings, which was initially circumstantial, before becoming organised by the public authorities at regional level, then at national level from the end of the 18th century. Moreover, rewards were given to those who killed wolves. This effort was recorded by the administrative authorities, because until the 20th century, the “control” then “eradication” of wolves was a public safety measure. Together, all of these data provide indirect insight into the behaviours of wolf populations, based on seasonal variations in killings by category (male, female, or cubs) and location. They also show the official view of the animal and the real order of priorities, set by the administration. In what contexts were collective or individual, and specialised or non-specialised hunts organised? What were the tolerance thresholds towards the wolf population, for different social groups, and different danger priorities? An examination of wolf hunts from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century tells us about the nature of the risk and how it was seen (as well as the responsiveness threshold of societies). Looking at the long term, we will examine policies regarding predators and the legal techniques used (contracts, police regulations, and compensation for damages): the supporting measures (rewards, compensation, and other funds paid by the state to populations) show that wolves were long represented as a public hazard. Overall, this international study, conducted in partnership with European researchers, allows us to construct historical indications about predations on livestock or men, then to situate them and interpret them. In doing so, it focuses on two areas: the evolution of societies’ responses to the presence of wolves, and a scientific contribution towards a reflection that allows a progressive redefinition of wolf management in the European area.

MAN AND WOLF