At the invitation of the Association of Large Game Hunters of Île-de-France and the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC), a conference entitled “Wolf, Are You There?” was held in Paris at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature and the François Sommer Foundation.

The event attracted strong interest, with nearly 200 participants attending an evening dedicated to discussion and reflection on one of Europe’s most fascinating and debated wild species.

The evening opened with a presentation by the renowned historian and researcher Professor Michel Pastoureau, a specialist in heraldry and animal symbolism and author of The Wolf: A Cultural History. Professor Pastoureau explored the place of the wolf in the European imagination, tracing how it has been feared, admired, mythologised and represented from Antiquity to the present day. His presentation highlighted the changing image of the wolf across the centuries.

Malory Randon, Wolf Delegate at the French National Hunters’ Federation (FNC), provided a field-based perspective drawn from 25 years of wolf monitoring in the Drôme department. Drawing on extensive practical experience, she addressed the species’ ethology and biology, sharing observations and examples from the field. Her intervention offered the audience a vivid picture of the wolf’s remarkable adaptability in modern landscapes.

The evening concluded with a presentation by Guillaume Agède of FACE, who retraced the political and legal developments that led to the wolf’s downlisting under the Habitats Directive. From the first calls by Member States and the European Parliament to the Bern Convention’s decision to review the species’ status, his presentation outlined the key milestones in this process. He also explained how several EU Member States are now using this framework to improve coexistence between wolves and human activities, while ensuring the species maintains a favourable conservation status.