Badger digging: 10 associations are filing a complaint to the Bern Committee

By authorising badger hunting for 8 out of 12 months, in an unrestricted way and without knowing the population number, France is not following the Bern Convention of 1982 relating to the conservation of wildlife. On International Badger Day on 15 May 2023, our associations have thus decided to file a complaint before the Bern Committee. Initiated by ASPAS (Association pour la protection des animaux sauvages [Association for the Protection of Wild Animals]) and with participation from AVES France, the Renard Blaireau Collective, FNE Aura, FNE Loire, Humanité & Biodiversité, the LFDA, MELES, the LPO, and One Voice, this new action for badgers is happening after an official petition was signed by more than 100,000 citizens, the publication of a particularly incriminating Senate report against badgers, and the moment when they, sadly, opened a new season of killing by underground hunting with hounds in numerous French departments.

In France, not only are badgers affected by hunting from mid-September to 15 January, but they can also be subjected to an ‘additional period’ of digging out between 15 May and the opening of the general hunting season in September, a period in the year when dependent young animals are still likely to be present in the setts. This type of hunting, called underground hunting with hounds, is particularly violent and destructive not only to badgers, but also their habitat which is a refuge for numerous other species, included protected ones.

In ratifying the Bern Convention in 1982, France committed to take legislative measures and appropriate and necessary regulations to protect wild fauna species listed in Annexe III, an Annexe which includes the badger. This convention allows exemptions ‘from exploiting’ these species, but only on the condition that they “do not harm the survival of the species concerned”, that they are selective, and that there is no satisfactory alternative solution.

8 months of hunting per year, on adults and young alike…

Yet, as the associations have shown in the expert report given to the Bern Committee, France does not respect any of these conditions. In fact, while it authorises them being hunted for 8 months of the year, and with no quota (badgers are not subject to hunting plans), it has no idea of the numbers of badgers present in the country… Additionally, hunting by digging out is a non-selective, blind hunting method, during which numerous badger cubs are killed each year (often directly by the dogs sent into their setts), even by the admission of hunters who have handed over their data to prefectures.

The dependence of badgers from 15 May and throughout the whole additional period, shown by several scientific studies, is a strong argument maintained by French administrative tribunals that our associations refer to, and who have authorised the suspension and cancellation of several prefectural decrees in recent years.

These repeated victories have set a legal precedent that is increasingly paying off, because for the 2022-2023 season, only thirty-three departments have authorised underground badger hunting from 15 May, and twenty-one others prefer to authorise this period from a later date.

Prefects are all too often hunters’ puppets

Despite a few steps forward, prefectures remain in control of the timing as long as they are not subject to any legal requirements. Many therefore continue to ignore scientific arguments provided during public consultations, preferring to protect the interests and the macabre hobby of a few hunters. Ditto from the Ministry of the Ecological Transition, who have been referred to several times by our associations, but who insist on turning a deaf ear.

It is for all of these reasons that our associations have decided to file a complaint before the Bern Standing Committee, hoping to pressure France into taking the necessary measures in order to respect the Convention signed more than 40 years ago.

Participating associations and press contacts:

ASPAS: Richard Holding, presse@aspas-nature.org, 07.67.36.22.90
AVES: Frédéric Daniel, frederic.daniel@aves.asso.fr, 06.52.76.20.30
Collectif Renard Blaireau: Corinne Rolland, cocoroll@free.fr, 06.30.49.81.28
FNE AURA: Maxime Flamand, maxime.flamand@fne-aura.org, 09.72.45.06.03
FNE LOIRE: Isabelle Hanicotte-Dufix, isabelle.hanicotte-dufix@orange.fr, 06.11.37.60.13
HUMANITÉ & BIODIVERSITÉ: Nathan Horrenberger, pol.biodiv@humanite-biodiversite.fr
LFDA: Nikita Bachelard, nikita.bachelard@fondation-droit-animal.org, 01.47.07.98.99
LPO: Carine Carbon, carine.carbon@lpo.fr, 06.62.22.20.44
MELES: Virginie Boyaval, virginie.boyaval@gmail.com, 06.24.94.35.09
ONE VOICE: Jessica Lefèvre-Grave, presse@one-voice.fr, 06.88.57.47.17

Translated from the French by Joely Justice