User:Sam Sailor/Drafts/Wolves of Périgord

Two of the Wolves of Périgord, on display at the chateau of Razac, Thiviers

The Wolves of Périgord were a pack of man-eating wolves that plagued the northwestern regions of Périgord, France, in February 1766. According to official records, the wolves killed eighteen people and wounded many others before they were eliminated.

History

Louis XV took a personal interest in the case, rewarding a man for his courage in saving a victim of the wolves with the promise of a cash reward and an exemption from militia service for his children. The man, who was in his sixties and armed with a billhook, had rescued an armed marksman and his companions from marauding wolves after their gunpowder had been depleted.

Records indicate that citizens of Périgord, known as Sieurs de Fayard, killed three wolves, and a professional hunter slew a fourth. A general hunt ended in the death of two wolves, male and female. The female was noted as having a double row of teeth in the jaw, suggesting the possibility of wolf-dog hybridization.

See also

• Beast of Gévaudan
• List of fatal wolf attacks
• List of wolves
• Wolf hunting
• Wolf of Ansbach
• Wolf of Sarlat
• Wolf of Soissons
• Wolves of Paris

References

• Thompson, Richard H. Wolf-Hunting in France in the Reign of Louis XV: The Beast of the Gévaudan. Lewistown: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991.