One Voice continues its fight against bear scaring: hearing on 16 June 2023 at the State Council
One Voice is asking for the cancellation of the 20 June 2022 ministerial decree authorising bear scaring in the Pyrenees.
Off the back of a grand slam that we won last year against prefectural decrees authorising bear scaring in the Pyrenees, we will be at the State Council on 16 June at 2pm to ask for the cancellation of the ministerial decree of 20 June 2022 that authorises the implementation of such measures on a departmental level.
Photo: Collectif Hope
In August 2022, we were successful in getting all of the decrees set by the Ariège Prefecture to authorise scaring shots against brown bears, who are trying to somehow to survive in the Pyrenees, suspended, despite constant threats of poaching. To have the illegality of these laws recognised at the source, we have also attacked the one which they all stem from: the ministerial decree of 20 June 2022.
Violent measures cancelled more and more often
On 16 June 2023 at the hearing, we will ask for the cancellation of this decree before the State Council. Seeing as we managed to get the 2019 and 2020 ones partially cancelled, and also the one of 31 May 2021 to which it is similar, there is good reason for this. These publications allow prefectures to authorise sound effect shots that are very violent for these animals that are few in number in our mountains. For eight long months, bears are at the mercy of these detonations that push them out of their territory, can inflict auditory injuries, and risk separating the mothers from their young… if they have not already had their pregnancy terminated by the stress caused by this constant harassment.
Persecution from the ministry that is supposed to protect them must stop
In recent years, the legal system has proven us right by declaring laws attacking bears as illegal one after the other. While judges have started being sensitive to our arguments, the Ministry of the Ecological Transition itself blindly pursues its persecution policy against ursine populations in our country.
Our rallying for these animals remains more relevant than ever. We hope that the State Council will send another strong signal against these absurd scares by cancelling the 2022 ministerial decree in turn, then the one of 4 May 2023, which has not been urgently suspended despite our request but which could still be declared illegal.
To protect bears from shots threatening them relentlessly, we will face the Ministry at the State Council on 16 June at 2pm.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice