Up to 1,500 sheep farmers descended on central Lyon, southwestern France on Monday with their flocks to express despair over the number of wolf attacks in the region.

The farmers, whose sheep took over a square in central Lyon in the early afternoon, warned that the wolf, which returned to France in the early 1990s and whose numbers have officially reached 360, is threatening their pastoral way of life.

Sheep in the Aveyron region must be allowed graze freely as part of the appellation on producing roquefort, the famed salty blue cheese made from the milk of totally free range sheep.

As a result, despite the presence of only a handful of wolves there, the area's 800,000 sheep have become a "pantry for the wolf," breeder François Giacobbi told AFP. Protection methods including powerful sheep dogs and electric fences have not worked, they claim.