An eventful awakening. A 32-year-old woman was waking up in a bivouac on the Sornin plateau, in Vercors (Isère), on Sunday, when she was attacked by five patous, shepherd dogs responsible for protecting herds in the mountain pastures. According to the story from France 3 Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, a first dog bit his backpack multiple times, then other dogs arrived immediately. Frightened, the woman first called for help before fleeing, pursued by the canines, then she took shelter in a tree.
Later in the morning, mountain rescue arrived by helicopter and airlifted the hiker, safe and sound. Questioned by France Bleu Isère, the shepherd Raymond Riera, owner of the 700 sheep present on the mountain pasture where the woman was bivouacked, believes “that there must have been a bad reaction from the hiker”. He also recalls that “there are six or seven signs on the mountain pasture to explain the presence of dogs and the behavior to adopt towards them, in particular the fact that one must not move”.
The patou is increasingly present in the Alps due to the presence of the wolf. “One summer, the wolves took up to 60 sheep from us and another 12 last year,” Raymond Riera told our colleagues. Hikers who encounter these dogs in the mountains are encouraged to stop and remain calm. Faced with a patou, even if it were to bark, it is also better to avoid sudden gestures or threats - even less with a stick or a stone -, not to shout, to position yourself in profile in order to avoid making it face (so that the canine does not take this attitude as a confrontation), do not look him in the eyes and speak to him calmly, before walking away calmly, without running.
A nice scare. A woman in her thirties was attacked by several patous, the protection dogs responsible for supervising the herds in the mountain pastures, on Sunday July 21, during a hike on the Sornin plateau in the Vercors (Isère), before taking refuge in a tree and being rescued by helicopter, the CRS Alpes in charge of the intervention informed Le Parisien, confirming information from France Bleu Isère.
The young woman was bivouacing on the Sornins plateau, in the Vercors, near Grenoble, when she was attacked by a first patou. The animal attacked his backpack, before other dogs arrived. Panicked, she called the emergency services who advised her to take refuge in a tree and wait for their arrival. A few minutes later, she was rescued by helicopter by the CRS Alpes de Grenoble. The hiker was not injured, “but she is very shocked,” the gendarmes told Le Parisien.
Recommendations in the event of an attack. In recent years, several hikers have been attacked by patous. On its website, the French Hiking Federation (FFR) recalls that “the patou protects its herd, it does its job when it manifests itself in the presence of hikers who are intruders for it”. The federation advises to “circumvent the herd as much as possible, as widely as possible” and “not to be familiar with a protection dog: caresses or food disrupt it in its work”. In addition, certain attitudes, such as “yelling, stroking a lamb, taking a photo with a ewe” can be interpreted as aggression by the protection dog, recalls the FFR.
