Urgent suspension of black grouse hunting in two out of three areas in the Hautes-Alpes!
Another victory for black grouse thanks to One Voice: in the Hautes-Alpes, the prefectural decree has been partially suspended.
The Marseille Administrative Tribunal is urgently suspending black grouse hunting in two out of three bioclimatic areas in the Hautes-Alpes. The urgent applications judge admitted that the black grouse should be spared here, due to their vulnerability. Another victory for One Voice in favour of these individuals who already have such a hard time surviving without adding hunting to the mix…
In their ruling, the urgent applications judge started by rejecting the hunters’ objections regarding our arguments and then announced that there is the utmost urgency for black grouse. Finally, he decided to suspend hunting, which “compromises[…] conservation efforts of this species in its area of distribution”, namely, for him, in two of the three bioclimatic regions mentioned in the Hautes-Alpes Prefect’s decree. In the ‘Inner Northern Alps’, 37 black grouse were involved, and in the ‘Northern Pre-Alps’, 9 of them were targeted. In the third area, we will argue our point of view again when the case is judged for it to be cancelled. The LPO PACA and the SAPN-FNE Hautes-Alpes, who also attacked this decree, also received the same decision.
The decree must from now on be judged in substance for the entirety of the three zones concerned. The date is not yet set for this hearing, which must take place within several months. But it is already a very good victory, essential for the mountain Galliformes spared, who are added to those that the Association has already managed to save this year in Savoie, the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice