Wolves were exterminated in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Therefore, livestock breeders and herders were unprepared when wolves arrived from Italy in 1993, the year after France committed to the European Union (EU) to protect wolves. Today, ~580 wolves, whose numbers are growing exponentially, are present in over one-third of France. During the last 10 years, livestock deaths from wolves have grown linearly from 3215 in 2009 to 12 451 in 2019, despite France implementing extensive damage protection measures since 2004, including reinforced human presence, livestock guard dogs, secured pasture fencing and electrified night pens. The failure to prevent damage is clear. Wolves enter mosaic landscapes where grazing livestock are abundant and easy prey. Wolves are intelligent and opportunistic. As a strictly protected species, it seems they no longer associate livestock with humans and humans with danger. Half of the successful attacks now occur during the day, notwithstanding the presence of dogs and humans. Considering the high costs of unsatisfactory protection, France recently modified its wolf management policy. In addition to non-lethal means of protection, breeders that have suffered several attacks by wolves are now permitted, by derogation to the law, to defensively shoot wolves. Based upon evidence from other countries, we suggest re-establishing a reciprocal relationship with wolves. Breeders and herders should be allowed to shoot wolves to defend their herds against wolf attacks, not after several successful predation events. Defence shooting would also upgrade the efficiency of non-lethal means, as warning signals for wolves to respect. Rather than passive coexistence, we need to embrace a dynamic and ever-evolving process of coadaptation between humans and wolves, relying on the adaptive capacities of both.

狼在19世纪末和20世纪初在法国被灭绝。因此，当法国于1993年承诺保护欧洲联盟的狼的第二年，当狼从意大利抵达时，牲畜饲养者和牧民就没有做好准备。如今，约有580头狼，其数量呈指数增长，分布在法国的三分之一以上。在过去的十年中，尽管法国自2004年起实施了广泛的破坏保护措施，包括加强人类的生存能力，牲畜护卫犬，安全的牧场围栏和带电的夜间围栏，但狼的牲畜死亡数量却从2009年的3215人线性增长到2019年的12451人。防止损坏的失败很明显。狼进入镶嵌景观，那里放牧的牲畜丰富且容易捕食。狼是聪明而投机的。作为受严格保护的物种，似乎他们不再将牲畜与人类和处于危险之中的人类联系在一起。尽管有狗和人，但如今成功攻击的一半发生在白天。考虑到保护不力的高昂代价，法国最近修改了其狼管理政策。除了非致命性的保护手段外，现在还通过减损法律，允许遭受过几次狼袭击的饲养者防御性地射杀狼。根据其他国家的证据，我们建议与狼建立互惠关系。应允许饲养员和牧民射击狼群，以保卫自己的牧群免受狼的袭击，而不是在几次成功的捕食事件之后。防御射击还可以提高非致命手段的效率，以此作为警告信号，让狼尊重。