Unlimited badger massacre in the Tarn region: hearing on October 28, 2024
In the middle of the hunting season, in the village of Bannières, the Tarn prefecture has decided to outdo everyone else by ordering an administrative beat hunt, targeting badgers by shooting, digging up and trapping. The order is motivated by “damage” that has not even been demonstrated, and, among other irregularities, authorizes the use of an illegal trap. We demand the urgent suspension of this deadly and unlawful text at the Toulouse administrative court on Monday October 28, at 3pm.
In the Tarn region, badgers must flee from bullets from September 8, 2024 to February 28, 2025, and until January 15, 2025, they will also be hunted down in their burrows. But that wasn’t enough for the prefecture. Quick to please the hunters, it took advantage of damage to a farmer’s land to add to this massacre an administrative beat hunt lasting over a month in Bannières (81). From September 28 to November 3, badgers unfortunate enough to live on the town’s territory are being persecuted. To kill as many as possible, no limit having been set, all means are good: shooting, digging up and trapping. Above all, leave them no chance of survival.
Illegal and senseless persecution
In addition to its cruelty, the text published by the State is completely illegal. Where is the evidence of the “significant damage” allegedly caused by badgers? Not only does the decree fail to demonstrate this, it also uses it to order culling methods that contravene regulations. Digging up badgers can only be carried out by approved teams of diggers? No matter! If the lieutenant of louveterie and pests so desires, he can “enlist approved trappers” who are not normally qualified to carry out this practice. They’ll be delighted with this. As with the use of snares, traps theoretically reserved only for foxes and which horribly injure animals desperately struggling in them. The icing on the cake is that no mandatory public participation procedure was organized before these measures came into force. And this is just a sample of the irregularities we have identified.
In the face of our victories for badgers, hunters and prefectures persist: we counter-attack!
All over France, our actions against the supplementary periods of underground hunting have led to a reduction in this practice. In 2024, we saved the lives of over 4,000 badgers. A development that hunters and prefectures are fighting hand in hand, multiplying administrative beat hunts and going so far as to trample on court rulings! We won’t let them. Once again, we’re attacking the decree issued by the Tarn prefecture. On behalf of the badgers who have fallen victim to this text, we referred the matter to the Toulouse administrative court on October 8, and will be requesting its suspension as a matter of urgency at the hearing on Monday October 28.
Join us in demanding protection for badgers and a ban on digging: sign our petition!