"Affinity" hunts in the Indre region: we refer the matter to the Council of State
The judge presiding over summary proceedings at the Limoges Administrative Court has just rejected our appeal against the decree authorising “affinity hunts” for wild boars in the Indre department… without even considering its legality! He refused to rule in an emergency procedure, so we will have to wait many months –with how many wild boars killed?– before obtaining a final judgement. Faced with the risk of prefects massively transferring their powers to hunters, we are challenging this judgement before the Council of State.
In the Indre region, the prefect’s blank cheque to hunters validated by the court
A few days ago, we applied to the emergency judge to suspend this decree authorising “affinity hunts” –a concept invented from scratch by the prefect to allow the killing of as many wild boars as possible. However, the judge rejected our request without even considering the legality of the decree in question. He simply considered that, in view of the statistics put forward by the prefecture on the damage incurred, the hunts could not be suspended as a matter of urgency, whether legal or not.
This rejection is all the more incomprehensible given that wild boars are hunted everywhere and all the time in the region. For most species, the hunting season is open between September and February. For the boars, it is all year round! And they can be killed because they are classified as a species likely to cause damage (ESOD). But even all this is never enough for them, and the prefect has simply decided to transfer his power to the hunters. The hunters must be rubbing their hands with glee: “If you want something done right, do it yourself”, they are no doubt saying… But that is without reckoning with our determination to have this unacceptable decision suspended.
Stop the abuses! We are taking the matter to the Council of State
Convinced that the prefectural decree will be declared illegal at the end of the proceedings, which should be completed in several months, we have decided to bring this case before the Council of State. It is unacceptable that the organisation of hunts that are already so often illegal, should be delegated to the lieutenants of louveterie and pests without any control or guarantees.
We therefore expect the Council of State to reaffirm the primacy of the law and send a clear message to the prefects: “You are responsible for the public interest, not the interests of hunters!”. To help us get this message across, please sign in favour of a radical reform of hunting!