Once again, we are rushing to the aid of the Bargy ibex

Alongside Animal Cross, the French Association for the Protection of Wild Animals, AVES France, France Nature Environnement Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France Nature Environnement Haute-Savoie, the French League for the Protection of Birds [LPO], One Voice is coming to the aid of the Bargy ibex.

Once again, the Haute-Savoie Prefecture has called for the indiscriminate slaughter of 20 of them. Its excuse is always the same: to protect humans from brucellosis, a disease that can be carried by agile animals. Evidently, it matters very little to them that blind shooting, without preliminary tests, is ineffective. We must remind ourselves that out of the 61 individuals slaughtered in 2022, only three of them were carriers... It also matters little to them that their obsession leads to a concerning reduction in the number of ibex in the area, even though they are protected by the Bern Convention.

A long-standing persecution

This policy is not new. Reintroduced into the Alps in the 1970s after having almost disappeared, the Bargy ibex have not stopped being victims of regular slaughtering since 2013, primarily to benefit cheese production in the region. Lives sacrificed in the name of commercial interests... Despite it being possible to capture and test them, the Haute-Savoie Prefecture regularly authorises indiscriminate shots on them. Confronted with the indiscriminate violence of these decisions, we are still fighting to protect these Alpine animals, as we were in 2018 and 2019. Last February, the legal system proved us right, declaring a decree published four years earlier as illegal.

On Tuesday 6 June at 11am, we are hoping that the Grenoble Administrative Tribunal will return a decision in favour of the Bargy ibex. We will continue to rally for them!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice