One Voice goes again in the fight against badger digging in Nièvre

Underground hunting with hounds, or pure cruelty

A Sunday in the month of May. A female badger and her cubs sleep at the bottom of their sett. They are woken by barks down the tunnels. The mother escapes, trying to somehow save her cubs. But she very quickly finds herself cornered. Then she is blinded: knowing she is stuck, a hunter digs a hole above her. With a pair of metal pliers, he grabs her by the throat and drags her from her sett. She will never see her babies again, who will die from panic, thirst, or hunger in the days to follow. That is it for her: the hunter pulls out a knife and slits her throat or shoots her at point-blank range.

No matter what hunters say, this is the cruel reality of underground hunting with hounds, which is responsible for more than 12,000 badger victims every year. Authorised from September to 15 January, this practice may be subject to an ‘additional period’ from 15 May to the month of September. Yet another way for prefects to give gifts to hunters in defiance of the law.

A massacre announced for badger cubs, making a mockery of the law

In terms of form, the decrees opening an additional period of underground badger hunting with hounds must be subject to a public consultation and be accompanied by a request note, in particular describing the impact of digging on the population of these animals in the department concerned. Despite this obligation, the latest one, provided by the Nièvre Prefect, only has a few lines and simply just does not mention this type of hunting.

In essence, while killing the young is strictly forbidden by law, specialists are in agreement: in the spring and summer, non-weaned, reproductively immature animals that are still dependent on their mothers are present in the setts. Yet, digging, by definition, does not allow them to be spared: if by some miracle they are not killed during the operation, they end up dying by not being able to survive alone.

These shameless snubs of the law have gone on for long enough. While we had much success in 2022, a definitive victory for badgers seems to be possible more than ever in the near future. We will be at the Dijon Administrative Tribunal on 23 March 2023 at 2:30pm to get their voices heard. We need your support. For them, sign our petition !

Translated from the French by Joely Justice