We are once again taking on traditional hunting for the birds!

The new minister Christophe Béchu would have preferred to be thanked for some progress, even though he expected to renew the orders that would reinstate traditional hunting of birds in 2022. And despite the repeated decisions of the State Council and the Court of Justice of the European Union in favour of the Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux [League for the Protection of Birds] and One Voice since 2018... arguing that he would not issue them if the State Council decided again to cancel those he had already suspended. After multiple repeated and consistent court decisions, we thought the lesson would have been learned by the executive. But no, the Ministers for Ecology follow each other, and the massacre of wildlife continues.

So why on earth be so angry with these little birds?

The birds are already in such difficulty due to human activities. Recently, mega-fires have killed them in their thousands. Pesticides spread everywhere for years kill the insects that they feed on en masse, condemning them to famine and disappearing, which is already under way. Meanwhile, urbanisation, with its noise, nocturnal light, and depletion of natural spaces, no longer allows effective reproduction...

Why does the Ministry of Nature want to please these private interest groups so much...

... while, according to the IPSOS/One Voice survey from September 2021, the general population is moving away from hunting more and more? No doubt because our investigations have revealed their true colours: violence, impunity, anti-environmentalism, and insecurity. Incidentally, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition has even just appealed against favourable decisions for western jackdaws obtained by One Voice and Crow Life in Brittany...

It is definitely not good to be a lark, a magpie-lark, a European golden plover, or any other bird in France these days!

To participate in the public consultations for yourself and to give your constructive arguments against the decrees allowing the reintroduction of traditional hunting in the Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and Ardennes departments, you have only a week, until 10 August 2022:

Translated from the French by Joely Justice