A bill to abolish groundhog hunting
At the end of November 2024, members of parliament proposed an unprecedented bill to stop the slaughter of marmots in France! On the initiative of AJAS and with the momentum of a group of 15 associations, we have taken joint action to put a stop to this slaughter. The clock is ticking for these animals, which are unfortunately already victims of climate change and the invasion of the mountains by tourists.
In France, a thousand marmots are killed every year for the pleasure of hunters. There is an urgent need to protect them, especially as climate change and intensive tourism are steadily reducing their numbers. Many scientists even fear that they could disappear from our mountains!
An unprecedented bill
That’s why, at the end of November 2024, the MP from the Savoie region Jean-François Coulomne and over 80 other parliamentarians from the “La France Insoumise” and The Ecologists groups proposed a bill to abolish marmot hunting. This is an extremely powerful political gesture, as it is the first time that the cause of these animals has been defended in the National Assembly.
As the associations point out in a collective video, we need to follow the lead of Italy, which has already banned it since 1992. As usual, France is lagging behind when it comes to animal welfare!
A fight supported by associations and civil society
This initiative reinforces the many calls from civil society in support of the marmots. We sent a collective letter to the former Prime Minister and the former Minister for Ecological Transition, urging them to take action in this direction, through a coalition of associations, after an initial opinion column in September 2022, urging them to remove marmots from the list of huntable animals.
Together with AJAS, Animal Cross, AVES and FNE Savoie, we are also leading the fight for them in the courts, faced with the hunters’ wobbly arguments. More than 100,000 people have finally signed the petition to abolish their hunting.
Please add your voice to ours, so that marmots’ protection can be reinforced so that they can finally live in peace! It’s out of the question that gun owners continue to persecute these wonderful animals.