The sighting of a lone wolf is not surprising, the Prefecture said. Young wolves typically roam alone in spring, when they leave the packs where they were born to find a mate. “They can cover distances of several hundred kilometres in a few months before settling. The maximum distance from the place of birth can exceed 1,500 kilometres (1,350 miles),” according to the Prefecture.

France’s wolves, estimated to number about 530, live mainly in the Alps, the south-east and the east of the country.

Conservationists have welcomed the expansion of the wolf population but farmers are demanding the right to cull more of them to reduce attacks on livestock. Wolves kill thousands of sheep each year.

The agriculture ministry, which is in charge of regulating the wolf population, set the quota allowed to be killed at 17 per cent in January.

As an endangered species, the grey wolf is protected under EU law. Wolves have spread to every country in continental Europe, but France, Italy, Denmark, Latvia and Estonia are lobbying Brussels to allow farmers to shoot more of the animals, arguing that they threaten farming communities and livelihoods.