(TheBlaze/AP) — No trip to Paris is complete without a visit to the Eiffel Tower. But visitors last week were in for an unusual sight -- the iconic landmark surrounded by hundreds of sheep.
Sheep graze at the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower in Paris during a protest by farmers demanding an effective plan by the ecology ministry to fight against wolves following an increasing number of attacks on flocks on November 27, 2014. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK KOVARIK
According to the Associated Press, disgruntled farmers brought their sheep to the Eiffel Tower to protest the government's "anti-farmer environmental policies" and a steep uptick in wolf attacks.
“Today famers, tomorrow unemployed,” one farmer's banner read.
The woolly protesters munched grass near the Paris monument while their owners urged tougher measures against wolf attacks, but the government says the way it compensates farmers if their sheep are attacked by wolves is sufficient.
“We don’t want the money, we want to be able to do our job in good conditions,” Michele Boudoin, secretary general of the French Sheep Organization, remarked.
French farmers hold a banner reading 'Today farmers, tomorrow unemployed' during a protest at the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower to demand an effective plan by the ecology ministry to fight against wolves following an increasing number of attacks on flocks of sheep on November 27, 2014. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK KOVARIK
Wolves were eradicated from France in the early 1900s, but returned in the 1990s and became listed as a protected species.
According to Reuters, farmers want the right to shoot wolves immediately if their flock is attacked.
But some, like the Ferus organization, are actually working to protect the wolves.
"It's a bit like asking what is the point of an eagle, or a piece of music, or a painting. The wolf is part of life," Patrick Boffy, the head of Ferus, told the BBC. "It returned naturally to France – the only southern European country where it had disappeared."
"In France, we need to learn, little by little, how to live alongside wild animals again," he added.
