Trapping: today it is a fawn; how many other victims before a shake-up happens?

Pets or wild animals: no one is spared

A few months ago, we announced that we were filing a complaint for Mani, a cat who almost had to have an amputation after being trapped in a neck snare. After long hours of suffering, he was finally freed and his paw saved in the nick of time. Cooper was saved from a leg-hold trap, and a wolf was found strangled in a fox trap in Gard. We have filed a complaint for them too. Despite repeated alerts, nothing has changed, and forests are transformed into an obstacle course for animals.

In the small village of Aurons, dismayed residents have recently alerted us after having discovered a panicked fawn taken by a trap in August 2023. For several hours, he remained immobilised, a strong metal wire tightening around his neck all the more as he tried to escape.

Far from being anecdotal, these cases are symptomatic of the hypocrisy of the regulations. To be authorised, traps are supposed to be ‘selective’. In other words, they must only be used for species classified as likely to cause damage (previously ‘pests’). How can they be selective if they are put in the middle of the forest, ready to spring into action at the slightest movement? In reality, these devices work in an indiscriminate way, whatever the animal may be.

Traps: a nightmare for animals classified as species likely to cause damage

Beyond trapping non-targeted individuals, every year, from foxes to stone martens and crows to jays, hundreds of thousands of animals lose their lives, killed by trappers. Strangled by neck snares, mutilated by leg-hold traps, trapped by their leg that is often broken before being killed, imprisoned in cages, or tangled up in nets, nothing spares them.

The ordeal of members of these species on the ground that are supposedly ‘pests’ is constant: at any time and anywhere, hunters are formidably inventive when they conquer them. While we are filing a plea against the classification of numerous species as ‘species likely to cause damage’ throughout the area, we are solemnly calling on authorities to take action and responsibility, while our forests are progressively turning into minefields for all animals.

For the fawn in Aurons, we have written to the town mayor so that the trapper can be identified and pursued. For all of the others, collective support is vital! Sign our petition for a radical reform of hunting, and let us know about any trap that does not clearly show the trapper's registration number!

Translated from the French by Joely Justice