Jackals have been spotted in Western Europe, driven across the Alps by global warming and the decline of rival species.
Sightings were reported by hunters in the Haute-Savoie region of France and confirmed by mammal experts at the University of Geneva who analysed footage from automatic camera traps on the Swiss border.
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Twenty-five years after wolves returned to France, sparking a war between environmentalists and farmers whose flocks they ravaged, the appearance of jackals “has given hill farmers in southern France another reason for fear”, says The Times.
The paper says despite the state culling over 40 wolves this autumn, more than 10,000 sheep have been reported killed by the predators this year.
Conservationists are calling for legislation to protect jackals in the same way as wolves. Jean-Francois Darmstaedter, head of the wolf protection group Ferus, said: “If we do nothing, the risk is that a golden jackal will soon be killed by a trigger-happy hunter.”
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