One Voice in the court of Nancy, to rescue 500 foxes destined to be hunted by the Prefecture!
A claim concerning an abuse of
power and a suspension order were filed by One Voice against the
Prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle. One Voice will be at the
administrative court in Nancy on Wednesday November 28th
at 11 am, alongside ASPAS, FLORE 54 and GEML.
90%
of the people who took part in the public consultation are on the
side of the foxes and their defenders. This almost unanimous opinion
from the population is however despised by the Prefect of
Meurthe-et-Moselle, who published on October 2nd
2018 an order authorising the “cull” – in other words the
slaughter – of 500 red foxes, by shooting carried out at night, in
the department by December 31st.
What are his justifications? Fallacious arguments in support of the
shootings whispered in his ears by the hunters.
The current status of these foxes, the all year-round relentless tracking and the Prefect’s abuse of power
In
the North and East of France, foxes are hunted even more than
elsewhere. Relying on their status as a “species likely to cause
damage” (previously “pests”), the Prefectures are
constantly publishing orders to expand the range of possibilities to
kill these small canines, yet even though they are useful to the
biodiversity and having their rightful place in the ecosystem.
Foxes
are considered game throughout the hunting season, whether with guns
or with dogs. Because of this special status, they are trapped and
dug up all year, including during the breeding season. Hunters can
indulge in their “sport” 12 months a year.
The
prefects take orders so that the game keepers of the Louvre, paid by
the State, can shoot them even at night, all this to appease the
peace of the hunters who want to be able to kill hares and partridges
without any competition from foxes. But here, nothing proves the
question against foxes.
Red foxes must be defended and protected!
What
does it mean to kill more than half a million of them each year
without even knowing their state of conservation?
It
is irrational to attack an animal that protects us from Lyme disease
through its presence, by naturally regulating the populations of
voles that carry this disease. In the absence of red foxes, other
forms of harm to nature and to health (including that of farmers)
takes place: toxic pesticides spread into the crops in the fight
against voles … In a single act, that of protecting foxes who we
respect and their ecosystem, we can save crops, we can protect
against Lyme disease, we can regulate the population of small rodents
and we evade a dose of dangerous pesticides into our daily diet !
One Voice will continue to sue
the legitimacy of such orders, the damage of which is irreversible.
It is urgent to take action. When this decree will be cancelled, like
so many others before it in the East and the North of France, the
countless foxes being massacred since its application will always be
the case.