Sheep In The City, Fighting Pollution And Wolves

You can see all sorts of crazy things in Paris.  Mostly it is bizarre looking humans , not sheep grazing in front of our beautiful Parisian monuments or landscapes.

One reason makes perfect sense to me, the other is a superb example of how the French call attention to their many grievances .

I have no idea if the rest of the world has been aware that Paris has been plagued recently with horrible peaks of pollution.

Sheep are just one way Paris is trying to restore cleaner air for Parisians.

You can  consult air pollution readings daily, but for several recent days during December, that wasn’t needed, as my eyes could immediately see the thick dense clouds that hovered over and even obscured some of the cute roof tops like a thick fog.

Maybe not as bad as notorious Beijing, but enough to have created a mini crisis in this huge metropolitan city.

It has gotten so bad that the city decided to adopt measures to combat pollution.   Turn freeways along the Seine into pedestrian areas, outlaw huge diesel trucks and some days  allowing only even or uneven car plates to drive into her boundaries.

Though I hate pollution, I must say that I have enjoyed the few days of free public transportation offered when it was at its worse.

Another weapon the city has adopted for several years is using sheep to help keeps grassy areas mowed and trimmed. It is called Eco Paturage or ecological pasturing.

 

 

 

 

Instead of the polluting massive mowers needed to keep the many grassy areas clean and mowed, the city in 2012 had the great idea to employ sheep to do the dirty work.

Knowing the French, there probably was probably multiple committees set up to study the whole proposed affair before implementing it, like they do with everything else.

Not any ordinary sheep would do, if there is anything such as an ordinary lamb.  No, a little bit of exoticism was chosen to represent such an important task of keeping Parisian lawns pristine.

That glorious distinction was awarded to an unusual breed of sheep from an Atlantic island off the coast of Brittany, called Ile de Ouessant, which is geographically the most north-western part of France.

Mostly desolate, the constantly wind swept island, populated with only about  850 year round residents, is 31 kilometers from the coast and can be reached by ferry or air several time a week from Brest.

The island is famous for their shaggy looking sheep, some seen trimmed here, which are a tourist attraction besides the lighthouse.  They are a  rugged breed of sheep; obviously if they can weather the miserable and often stormy weather that pummels this small lump of rocky soil.

Maybe the city leaders were fearful that ordinary sheep could be easily startled by the constant drone of shrieking sirens, honking, and roaring car and motorcycle engines.

Another factor in the selection of this exotic herd of sheep is their rather compact size.  It is the smallest of domestic sheep found in Europe.

The breed is rare, with a paltry few elsewhere in the hills of England, Scandinavia, and the Baltic area, probably brought to France by some Vikings eons ago.

Not only would they be easier to transport from  one grassy spot to the next, but perhaps their dejections would likewise be smaller in size.

Although the primary reason was said to reduce pollutants, the sheep work for free, a big plus, which definitely  saves the city from paying workers to do the job.

Strangely enough, I never heard any manifestations from the city mowing workers threatening to go on strike, by the humiliation of being replaced by sheep!

Another advantage of using sheep is that they can manuever up and around odd-shaped parcels of land that are alongside the Paris  Périphérique, or outer freeways that encircle the city.

So much for the benefits of these adorable animals that soften the landscapes of the city, but I was taken by surprise again to see a herd of sheep and their shepherd’s tents take up residence in the Tuileries gardens just next to the Louvre museum recently.

While the lambs were happily munching away, their owners were shouting into a megaphone, shaking cymbals and bells denouncing the increasing problems of wolves decimating their livestock.

It is a treasured French tradition of manifesting attention to anything they don’t like by shoving it in your face.  Strikes accompanied by huge marches all over the city, disrupting transportation is almost an everyday occurrence.

Rural folks, who know Parisians seemingly are unaware of their plights, have dumped potatoes, and manure in the streets of Paris and even set fire to bales of hay on the Champs Elysees.

So now, it’s the sheepherders getting out their message and concern that has been an ongoing problem of wolves killing or mutilating their sheep.

As much as Parisians love petting little lambs, they nevertheless are passionate connoisseurs of consuming legs, racks , shoulders, and chops of these beautiful animals.

Leg of lamb has been so traditionally a part of French gastronomy that there were even specially devised silver leg holders that grappled the leg bone for easier carving, that was a must for any bourgeois home table.

Wolves have been a protected species here, but recently there has been authorization for intermittent culls which has polarised public opinion into saving the wolves from the sheep farmers more than the sheep from the wolves.

Although farmers are compensated when is proved that a  lamb has been killed, they say that they often must search hours for the numbered tag if the head has been dragged off.

Protection of wolves has doubled estimated numbers of them, and now they have been sighted amongst the fabled vines of the Champagne district, where they were never before seen.

Sheep farmers  say they must all have attack dogs and sirens to ward off attack.

They can no longer leave their flocks unattended, especially during the night when they must be herded inside.

I was glad to hear that they were not calling for more mass killing of the wolves, but for more  administration changes that will allow themselves to protect their flocks, by killing invading wolves.

As it stands now, only government marksmen and some licensed shepherds have the right to kill off wolves when authorised.

France is proud of their efforts to maintain small farmers, and has fought strenuously against industrial farms, as pasture raised beef, poultry and lamb are preferred mainstays of French gastronomes.

I do have empathy for the small farmers, as well as the conservation of wolves.  I personally have seen two sheep killed with their mutilated carcasses left behind when I was hiking in the Alpine region several years and it was an awful scene.

Nevertheless, whether  seeing sheep lazily grazing away in central Paris, like this adorable baby even attacking a poster, or using them in the astonishing protest witnessed next to the revered Louvre, it was for me another enjoyable sight to see in this city of beauty and surprises!