Turtle-dove hunting: a moratorium is good, a ban is better!
Thanks to our long-standing fight for turtle doves, every year the government adopts a suspension of their hunting. For the 2024-2025 season, we invite you to participate massively in the public consultation organized by the Ministry. We call on you to support this solution, which gives respite to the thousands of birds that would have perished under hunters’ shotgun pellets… while reminding the government that this measure is not enough: we are now calling for their outright removal from the list of huntable species.
A long-term battle for turtle doves
As early as 2020, we were alerting public opinion to the fate of these birds on the brink of extinction, classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. For them, the threats are everywhere: disappearance of their habitats, noise pollution… not to mention hunters who, until 2020, were killing nearly 17,500 individuals every year.
With the LPO, we therefore launched an appeal against these unacceptable authorizations, and in 2020 obtained their emergency suspension by the French State Council. Convinced by our arguments, the judges were particularly severe with the State: small steps were insufficient, and only a moratorium could be envisaged. A landmark victory that saved thousands of birds!
For an outright ban on turtle-dove hunting
Since then, the State has suspended their slaughter every year. The Ministry of Ecological Transition has just opened the public consultation on the decree relating to the 2024-2025 season: we invite you to massively voice your support for this proposal!
In particular, you can point out that turtle doves are in a very worrying state of conservation, and that their populations are declining due to climate change, habitat destruction and numerous other anthropogenic pressures, notably agriculture.
Killing animals for pleasure at a time when biodiversity is collapsing is no longer an option. At a time when France holds the European record for the number of species that can be killed, it’s high time to step up a gear and demand a radical reform of hunting!