One Voice defends Barny against scare shots
The State registered him as M 129. We named him Barny. On May 21, 2024, a two-year-old male bear had the misfortune to cross paths with humans. Although the encounter didn’t seem to frighten him, he didn’t show any sign of aggressiveness and hasn’t been seen since. But that’s all it took for the Ariège prefecture to demand the use of scare shots. We immediately attacked this text, and will be requesting its suspension at the Toulouse Administrative Court on Thursday July 4, at 2pm.
Barny risks becoming the target of rubber bullets or violent detonations, as do any other bear with “characteristics” similar to his own. All this to teach him to fear humans and make him flee… even though he hadn’t been seen for more than three weeks when the document was published, and six today!
Authorities blinded by their anti-bear frenzy…
The prefecture’s obstinacy in persecuting an individual who keeps his distance from humans is a reflection of its relentless policy against these animals. As long ago as 2022, the department tried to force through decrees that went against a previous court ruling, in order to terrorize the bears at all costs. This was repeated at the end of summer 2023, when the court once again had to call the prefecture to order. But for the prefect, it doesn’t matter if measures like detonations can cause hearing damage or risk separating cubs from their mothers, as long as it’s in the interests of the farmers.
… even though the State is responsible for their presence
Yet it was the State that was keen to reintroduce these animals to France. So much so that, “in the name of biodiversity”, it snatched individuals from their Slovenian forests and released them in the Pyrenees, where breeders and hunters have been working hard ever since to make life impossible for them. From the outset, we firmly opposed this idea. To no avail: while in 2018, the French Ministry of Ecological Transition was delighted that new bears were continuing to join our territory, it was still signing ministerial decrees authorizing the scaring of these same animals on an experimental basis. Since then, the bears, who never asked to be there, never stopped being harassed.
For Barny and his companions, we will be present at the Toulouse Administrative Court on July 4 at 2pm.