News Archive - One voice

Pure Salmon: stop the ecocidal salmon farm project in the Gironde estuary

Pure Salmon: stop the ecocidal salmon farm project in the Gironde estuary
17.12.2025
Gironde
Pure Salmon: stop the ecocidal salmon farm project in the Gironde estuary
Animaux sauvages

In the Médoc Natural Park at Verdon-sur-Mer, Pure Salmon plans to create Europe’s largest land-based salmon farm. Every year, 3 million fish –equivalent to 10,000 tonnes– would be farmed to die and be consumed. Behind a well-rehearsed discourse on “ecological sustainability” and innovation lies a project that is destructive to animals, the environment and natural resources. One Voice is firmly opposed to it. Join us now in the public consultation running until 19 January 2026 to say no to this project which fuels a model that is far from ethical.

An excessive project in the Gironde estuary

€275 million from Singaporean funds to destroy a sensitive wetland: this is Pure Salmon’s project which involves the construction of an intensive land-based fish farm in an ecosystem that is already fragile and seriously threatened by artificialisation. On an area of around 15 hectares, 10,000 tonnes of salmon would be “produced” each year using a ‘Recirculating Aquaculture System’ in closed tanks and in an ultra-intensive manner, throughout their –all too short– lives.

This model is being presented as more environmentally friendly. Like Local Ocean, it is a genuine attempt at greenwashing: in addition to being experimental, the system poses risks to the estuary’s ecosystem and fish. The consequences are inevitable and numerous: the release of bacteria and the resulting spread of disease, lasting changes to habitats, particularly through eutrophication, soil contamination and disruption to the biological balance of the estuary and local marine fauna. Not to mention the discharge of phosphorus, nitrogen and organic matter. The list is long, and the problems would be multiplied tenfold in the event of a system failure.

Water and electricity resources exploited to excess: not really eco-friendly

Pure Salmon overlooks the fact that mass fish “production” runs counter to resource conservation. Fish farming requires constant monitoring of water temperature to prevent the salmon from suffering heat stress, which requires as much electricity as a town of 40,000 inhabitants.

Added to this is the extraction of 270 m³ of water per hour, or 6,500 m³ per day, from brackish water aquifers –above freshwater aquifers– equivalent to 950 Olympic swimming pools each year… This would eventually lead to salt water infiltration into the freshwater reservoirs. This is food for thought, given the increasing number of heat waves each year.

10,000 tonnes of salmon per year… and 233 billion fish caught to feed them

Pure Salmon extolls the animal welfare in their plans to supply France with salmon. 10,000 tonnes of these animals–an estimated 3 million individuals– would be “produced” in conditions that raise questions. These formidable migrants would live in densities and conditions incompatible with their biological needs, and would be subject to high mortality risks that are not without impact on their wild counterparts.

All these sentient beings will need to be fed, but how? Farming ultimately leads to even more intensive fishing: just to produce the animal meal, 233 billion fish would need to be caught worldwide –mainly off the African coast– and nearly 436,000 tonnes of soya would need to be grown. While the government is falling behind, do we really need to fuel this mass consumption?

Say no to this ecological disaster and the suffering of salmon

One Voice is mobilising against this project and is ready to challenge the authorisations if they are signed by the prefect. Join us by taking part in the public consultation which is open until 19 January 2026: the more people who participate, the better our chances of getting it stopped!

Wikie and Keijo: hope for a sanctuary for the orcas from Marineland

Wikie and Keijo: hope for a sanctuary for the orcas from Marineland
12.12.2025
Antibes
Wikie and Keijo: hope for a sanctuary for the orcas from Marineland
Exploitation pour le spectacle

PRESS RELEASE Antibes, 12 December 2025

The French government has announced its wish to transfer Wikie and Keijo to a marine sanctuary in Canada, a first in Europe for orcas. After years of campaigning in the field and working alongside veterinarians and marine biologists all the way to the courts, One Voice welcomes this decision as a decisive victory for orcas and a major turning point in the gradual phasing out of cetacean captivity in France.

The Minister for Ecological Transition has just announced his wish for Wikie and Keijo, the last two orcas held at Marineland Antibes, to be transferred to a marine sanctuary in Nova Scotia (Canada) by the summer of 2026.

One Voice, which for five years has been working alongside the Whale Sanctuary Project and the world’s leading specialists to bring this sanctuary project to fruition, welcomes this major step forward and thanks the Ministry for its willingness to listen and its commitment to finally finding a dignified solution for these two orcas. The sanctuary may be ready to welcome them as early as August. Ultimately, it will offer a real life to other captive individuals.

This decision opens up new horizons for all cetaceans still in captivity in France, at a time when several countries are embarking on a similar transition. In Mexico, the 135 dolphins held in dolphinariums are to be gradually transferred to marine sanctuaries. One Voice calls on Marineland to fully support this process, to keep the orcas safe on site until the sanctuary is completed, and to refrain from transferring them to another dolphinarium.

Two years ago, the association had already taken urgent action to prevent Wikie and Keijo from being sent to Japan. It has never stopped believing that a better future was possible –for Wikie, whose parents were captured in the North Atlantic, but also for her son Keijo, a young 12-year-old orca who is still fragile and mourning the loss of several members of his family.

Accompanying Wikie and Keijo to a new life

Preparing for the transfer is now a key step. After years in captivity, the orcas will need to undergo a gradual rehabilitation process: health checks, specialised care and adapted exercises to strengthen their underused muscles. This transition will be carried out jointly by Marineland’s carers and One Voice’s expert partners.

Transport to Nova Scotia, which will be by air, requires rigorous logistics and dedicated resources. On site, the sanctuary’s facilities —40 hectares of protected sea in the heart of Wikie’s parents’ natural biotope— will be finalised: double safety netting, an adaptation area, and continuous monitoring. The orcas will finally be able to swim in a straight line, dive and evolve in a living environment, far from the monotony of artificial pools.

One Voice is calling for a collective mobilization to ensure that this transfer takes place in the best possible conditions, paving the way for the arrival of other captive orcas in the future.

A national mobilisation on 13 December

On Saturday 13 December, One Voice is organising a major awareness-raising day in several cities across France –including Nantes, Paris, Metz, Brive-la-Gaillarde and Montpellier– to defend animal rights and highlight the urgent need for ethical solutions for cetaceans still in captivity.

In Antibes, where Marineland is located, the action will have a particular resonance. One Voice’s activist teams will be stepping up their efforts to inform the public about the situation of Wikie and Keijo, explain the sanctuary project in Nova Scotia and call on the park to finally take responsibility.

This national campaign is part of One Voice’s long-standing fight to pave the way for marine sanctuaries as a credible and necessary alternative.

Deer slaughtered in Morbihan: One Voice mobilises for the hearing on 19 December

Deer slaughtered in Morbihan: One Voice mobilises for the hearing on 19 December
11.12.2025
Morbihan
Deer slaughtered in Morbihan: One Voice mobilises for the hearing on 19 December
Animaux sauvages

On 19 November 2023, in Langonnet, several hunters engaged in a veritable bloodbath, slaughtering does and stags. Once again, they considered that their so-called right to kill should be unlimited. While millions of animals are slaughtered every year, for these men it is never enough: they knowingly violated the rules and covered up their offences to give free rein to their desire to kill. In response to these events, One Voice is bringing a civil action and will be present at the hearing on 19 December 2025 at 9am at the police court in Lorient.

Quotas manipulated to kill even more

Hunters are redoubling their efforts to kill even more. The proof was given in Langonnet where some of them deliberately broke the few rules that are supposed to regulate hunting. On 19 November 2023, they cold-bloodedly shot nine red deer stags and six does in a single day. This was despite the fact that only six animals were authorised to be shot for the rest of the 2023-2024 season – which is already far too many.

To cover up these illegal shootings, two does were declared as males, a tag was taken from a neighbouring territory, and hunting documents were falsified. Everything was orchestrated to conceal the reality and circumvent the rules, even though tens of thousands of deer are already killed by hunters each year.

These offences are all the more worrying given that, under pressure from the forestry industry – which tends to reduce nature to a mere “resource” –a recent report proposes to classify these animals as a species likely to cause damage (ESOD). This is an absurd logic that claims to protect forests, or rather the timber industry, while sacrificing those who are their emblematic inhabitants.

Hunting safety concerns, yet another case

As if the illegal killing of deer (and the accompanying fraud) were not enough, the most basic safety rules were ignored. There were no signs indicating that a hunt was taking place. From agricultural land accessible to the public, the hunters fired towards the bottom of a valley where a departmental road runs, without concern for the danger involved. And they did so with ammunition that has a range of several kilometres…

This shows a staggering, but sadly commonplace, irresponsibility. Every year, hunting accidents are on the rise, affecting domestic animals, walkers and local residents. Despite our repeated requests to the Government for effective protective measures, these incidents once again illustrate the urgent need to put an end to this deadly pastime.

For the deer that were killed, the penalties must be exemplary

Manipulating official data to kill more animals makes controls particularly difficult. The hunters face fines, up to five years’ withdrawal of their hunting licence, and safety training for those organising the hunt. For all these animals killed in the shadows, we are fighting for sentences that are commensurate with the illegalities observed.

We will be present at the hearing on 19 December 2025 at 9am at the police court in Lorient. Show your support by denouncing this deadly and cruel practice.

A day in the life of a laboratory monkey

A day in the life of a laboratory monkey
14.12.2025
France
A day in the life of a laboratory monkey
Expérimentation animale

This account, provided by One Voice, offers a glimpse into the daily lives of the 3,500 primates that are exploited each year by laboratories in France. Nearly 2,400 of them are put to death. These snippets of life are taken from several “individual files” on animals used in experiments. These animals have died (causes of death not disclosed) or, in much smaller numbers, been sold on to other laboratories to endure further suffering and fear. One Voice rarely obtains these extracts from documents that are supposed to be public, and very often has to fight in court to do so.

“They” are the laboratories which do not want us to know what really goes on behind their walls. While waiting for all the documents that the CNRS and the University of Aix-Marseille have been ordered to submit to us at the end of November, we have assembled, from the first partial documents received and old documents and photographs from other places, extracts of what these sentient beings are going through.

It is this cruel and painful reality that laboratories are trying to hide behind “welfare” criteria.

8am

I wake up to the sound of keys and metal doors. The neon lights come on suddenly, without warning. I curl up at the back of my cold cage. Since I arrived at this new laboratory, I never know what’s going to happen.

9am

I hear the other monkeys panicking. Screams. Banging on the cages. Some bite the bars, sometimes bleeding from their teeth. Some fight each other, out of fear, like me. My heart is beating too fast. I cannot calm down. They give me food, but it tastes different now. They say the “cocaine protocol” is starting. I’ve been feeling different things in my body ever since. I have no choice, it’s the only food available.

10am

They open my neighbour’s cage. They grab him by the neck with their metal rod. He screams, clings on. They drag him out by force. Another companion had a fingernail ripped out like that. And he didn’t return to his cage yesterday. I see and hear everything. Now I’m screaming. I’m next.

A little later

I often lose track of time because of all the things they inject me with. They force me into a system that immobilises me. Motionless, powerless, constrained. Frightened. The fruit compote given as a “reward” has never been enough. Each time is just as painful. They connect wires to my body. They operated on me to install equipment in my chest, I don’t remember when. I’m undergoing electric shocks now, more intense every day. Today the shocks were very strong. My hand and foot are shaking without me wanting them to. They’ve been giving me more injections for several days now. They say my device has become infected. I remain motionless. I have no choice. I’m in pain.

Back in the cage

The door closes. Silence returns, but not calm. I feel sick, I vomit a lot. I am afraid. All the time. They write things down on their sheets of paper. I endure every minute, every hour. At first I had hope. Freedom, all the time. Now I wait for the end, again. My name is Eliot, don’t forget me.

Eliot’s story is also that of around 3,500 primates that they exploit every year in France. “They” are the laboratories. 90% of the animal experiments they carry out are not required by law.

For Eliot and all the others, take action with us:

say no to the expansion of the CNRS primate breeding programme,
say stop to primate experimentation.

Hunting safety: at least four dead and seven injured in less than two months

Hunting safety: at least four dead and seven injured in less than two months
12.12.2025
France
Hunting safety: at least four dead and seven injured in less than two months
Animaux sauvages

Between 19 October and 6 November 2025, four hunters were killed while hunting, and at least seven other people were injured as a result of this cruel pastime. One Voice condemns these recurring accidents which add many more victims to the 45 million animals slaughtered each year. Hunting is a deadly practice that urgently needs to be reformed!

Hunter under the influence: dog hit by car, driver assaulted

Last October, a motorist was driving along a country road through the hamlet of Espanel when he hit a “hunting” dog that was crossing the road during a wild boar hunt. Probably stunned, the 60-year-old man was violently assaulted by the hunter. He was punched in the face, and his vehicle was damaged. He lost a tooth and his glasses in this senseless outburst of violence. Convicted a few months earlier for domestic violence, the attacker tested positive for cocaine and amphetamines after being taken into custody. It is to individuals like this, who are dangerous to both humans and other animals, that we issue a licence that is nothing short of a bad joke and the right to own a weapon…

Four hunters died while pursuing animals

Over a two-month period, two hunters drowned while persecuting animals, the first in a lake in Maudétour-en-Vexin (Val-d’Oise) into which his dog had ventured during a wild boar hunt, and the second in Travecy (Aisne) after falling from a boat while hunting ducks. A third man lost his life near Brue-Auriac (Var) after setting out alone in search of a wild boar wounded during a hunt, while a fourth reportedly fell to his death in La Morte (Isère) while attempting to retrieve the carcass of an animal he had just shot.

A walker, a runner and a child injured

When they are not injured, sometimes seriously, by the animals they hunt, as in the La Clapade area (Aveyron) or Saint-Nazaire-des-Gardies (Gard), or when they are not injuring each other, or even themselves, these trigger-happy individuals sometimes have the bright idea of involving children in their obsession, with no regard for their sensitivity or their lives, as in the case of a ten-year-old girl who was hospitalised for a day and a half after a deer hunt. However, you don’t have to be related to a hunter to be in danger: all citizens who simply want to enjoy nature are at risk! In November, a jogger was seriously injured by a bullet near Vaison-la-Romaine (Vaucluse). A few days later, it was the turn of a man walking in the Finistère countryside to be hit in the leg by a bullet fragment during a wild boar hunt. These numerous casualties would be easily avoidable if only hunters would give up their thirst for killing.

A systemic problem

These are the accidents that we have been able to identify in the press. How many others go unreported by the media? Hunting federations may well distance themselves from those responsible by placing all the blame on them, but we are not fooled. Every year, these armed men privatise nature for their own leisure, inevitably making it dangerous for all, to the point that the 2024-2025 season saw a record increase in the number of accidents and deaths, while tens of millions of animals continue to be slaughtered. This must stop.

Make your indignation heard by signing our petition for a radical reform of hunting!

The SACPA animal pound in Perpignan is due to appear in court for mistreatment of animals

The SACPA animal pound in Perpignan is due to appear in court for mistreatment of animals
10.12.2025
Perpignan
The SACPA animal pound in Perpignan is due to appear in court for mistreatment of animals
Animaux familiers

Irregular “euthanasia” of dogs, cats and kittens, animals left without care, unsuitable premises… On Wednesday 17 December, the manager of the animal pound in Perpignan and the SACPA group to which it belongs will be tried in court. One Voice denounces the role of the State in the mistreatment and mass slaughter within these structures where our companions are killed in perfect legality.

In 2023, the local associations Un Gîte Une Gamelle (A Shelter A Bowl) and the S.P.A. (Society for the Protection of Animals) of the Pyrénées-Orientales region took legal action after receiving a disturbing report from an employee of the animal pound in Perpignan. Due to a lack of sufficiently frequent visits by a veterinarian to the site, some dogs suffering from diarrhoea, purulent conjunctivitis or even a leg injury were left to fend for themselves for days without receiving any care. Not stopping there in terms of mistreatment and illegality, the manager of the facility vaccinated and ‘euthanised’ several cats, dogs and kittens himself, even though these procedures must be carried out by a vet. One dares not imagine the fear and suffering of these animals, sick, neglected and killed in their kennels…

The true face of animal pounds

Since 2022 and our investigation into the SIVU animal pound in Lot-et-Garonne, we have relentlessly denounced the hell that awaits animals behind the doors of these establishments. Lack of care and hygiene, mass killings, sometimes without justification or veterinary supervision… In Ranguevaux, Passerelles Vers l’Emploi and SACPA in Vaux-le-Pénil, the negligence and abuse we have documented are shocking, whatever the accused establishments may say. And this nightmare is far from being confined to a few shady places. Even in those that are in compliance, dogs and cats picked up off the streets find only rows of tiny concrete boxes smeared with excrement, filled with anxious barking and meowing… and not a single gesture of affection to reassure them. After eight days, if no one has inquired about them and they have not found a place in the overflowing shelters, they are killed without hesitation before being sent for quartering.

The State at fault

Every year, thousands of dogs and cats are killed in this way, to the complete indifference of our leaders. Not content with looking the other way, they continue to fuel this slaughter by authorising puppy shows, online classified ads and even click & collect in pet shops which should have stopped selling cats and dogs since January 2024. As long as our companions are treated as mere consumer goods, impulse purchases and the resulting abandonment will continue, and with them the vicious cycle of stray animals and mass slaughter. It is time for the State to take its responsibilities!

On 17 December, we expect the court to hand down a sentence commensurate with the acts of mistreatment committed by the manager of the Perpignan pound. Sign our petitions to call for an end to the code of silence and killings in pounds and for a national plan to combat straying of cats.

Expansion of the primatology centre in Rousset: a month of actions with One Voice, and a mobilisation that is paying off

Expansion of the primatology centre in Rousset: a month of actions with One Voice, and a mobilisation that is paying off
05.12.2025
Rousset, Bouches-du-Rhône Expansion of the primatology centre in Rousset: a month of actions with One Voice, and a mobilisation that is paying off
Expérimentation animale

Since the summer of 2024, One Voice has been campaigning against the CNRS’s plans to expand the Rousset primatology centre to triple the number of monkeys being bred there for sale to laboratories. The unexpected public attention has led the CNRS to open a month-long consultation process. Presented as “voluntary” and “transparent” but conducted as a communication operation, it ended on 16 November.

Despite the obstacles, the call launched by One Voice and its partner associations was heard: more than 2,200 opinions, mostly unfavourable, were submitted. This is a strong signal on the eve of an official assessment expected mid-December.

June 2024: the CNRS attempts to discreetly launch a call for tenders to expand the primatology site in Rousset. As soon as this information was revealed, One Voice called on the government and the CNRS to obtain the official documents on this project which is contrary to European commitments to reduce the number of lab animals. Faced with their silence, we launched a large-scale campaign in April 2025 with 150 partner associations and organisations alongside the Collectif Vauclusien de Protection Animale (Vaucluse Animal Protection Collective). The media response was immediate. The CNRS, which had hoped to move forward quietly, then launched a preliminary consultation under the supervision of a guarantor from the Commission Nationale du Débat Public (CNDP, National Commission for Public Debate).

During one month this autumn our association mobilised to raise awareness around this project, organising a dozen events in the field with its activists. In total over 1,000 leaflets were distributed in Rousset and the surrounding municipalities.

Proclaimed transparency, organised opacity

Supposedly intended to inform the public, this preliminary consultation promised transparency. Instead, the CNRS provided a promotional brochure with no real alternative scenario and organised a single meeting in Rousset, the municipality most affected. Our actions brought dozens of residents to the meeting. Almost all of them expressed their opposition. Throughout the month of consultation, obstacles were put in place to prevent us from obtaining clear answers: crucial documents were withheld, questions remained unanswered, etc. This lack of transparency is widespread at the CNRS. Though present at all four meetings, the Gircor, an animal experimentation lobby group, did not even deem it necessary to inform the public. Its president, who is also a veterinarian at the CNRS, spoke without mentioning his dual role.

The battle continues

Without our mobilisation in April 2025, this consultation would not even have taken place. The CNRS attempted to use it to improve its image, to no avail. Despite the lobby’s attempts to influence the outcome, the opposition is overwhelming at first glance: of the 2,238 opinions submitted, more than 93% are unfavourable. The guarantor will give his official assessment in a few weeks’ time. Further consultations will follow in 2026. We will not give in: One Voice will continue its fight against this unjustifiable project to the very end.

You can still join us in taking action: sign the petition and pass it on

Join our actions in the field: militants@one-voice.fr

What are the mouse lemurs, bred for experimentation, enduring at the National Museum of Natural History?

What are the mouse lemurs, bred for experimentation, enduring at the National Museum of Natural History?
03.12.2025
Ile-de-France
What are the mouse lemurs, bred for experimentation, enduring at the National Museum of Natural History?
Expérimentation animale

For years One Voice has been fighting for transparency in animal experimentation, and recently we have lodged a request with the Administrative Court in Paris. The National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) refuses to provide us with all the documents we have been requesting for several years concerning the breeding of Brunoy mouse lemurs —the world’s largest population of these small lemurs destined for experimentation. The hearing will take place on Thursday 4 December. One Voice is asking the court to confirm the Museum’s obligation for transparency, as it not only sells these mouse lemurs to laboratories but also conducts tests on some of them.

Since 2021 and our rally in front of the MNHN, we have been calling for the closure of this breeding facility. Around 500 mouse lemurs are kept there in opaque conditions in view of experimentation in laboratories. To understand what is really going on there, we have demanded transparency from the MNHN regarding the management of these animals: entry and exit records, monitoring files, ‘animal welfare’ committee meetings and administrative correspondence.

Faced with the Museum’s silence, we referred the matter to the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (CADA), which had already ruled in our favour in December 2022. Despite this favourable ruling, the MNHN has persisted in its refusal to provide the requested information.

One Voice is now asking the Paris Court to confirm the Museum’s obligation for transparency, as it not only sells these mouse lemurs to laboratories but also experiments on some of them, as reported in the literature. While some of the experiments carried out may appear to be “simple behavioural studies”, others are only harmless in appearance. In one experiment, for example, entitled “adaptability to its environment”, individuals were isolated, underfed for several days, then decapitated and sent to foreign laboratories.

This is the third request lodged against the MNHN which has already suffered two convictions, seeking to obtain public information relating to this breeding programme —proof of the Museum’s persistent resistance to any transparency concerning the fate of the animals it holds. This kind of unlawful opacity is widespread in the animal experimentation sector, where One Voice has just won a victory against similar practices by the CNRS and the University of Aix-Marseille.

One Voice will continue its fight until this breeding facility is closed, until the full truth about the fate of the Brunoy mouse lemurs is revealed, and until experiments on all lemurs are stopped. Join us in taking action by signing the petition!

A victory for the jackdaws: four deadly orders from 2022 and 2023 were illegal

A victory for the jackdaws: four deadly orders from 2022 and 2023 were illegal
28.11.2025
Bretagne
A victory for the jackdaws: four deadly orders from 2022 and 2023 were illegal
Animaux sauvages

On 27 November, the Administrative Court in Rennes overturned four orders authorising the mass culling of jackdaws in the regions of Finistère and Côtes-d’Armor in 2022 and 2023. This is an important victory for these birds which are shot relentlessly every year in Brittany, despite being a protected species. One Voice is calling on the prefectures to respect the court’s decisions and finally turn to non-lethal measures.

Every year, the prefectures of western France order the slaughter of thousands of jackdaws at a time when the young are still dependent on their parents. Although the courts, thanks to our action, urgently suspended three texts targeting these birds in 2022, thus saving 27,000 individuals, they remained deaf to their suffering the following year.

Non-lethal methods exist

On 27 November of this year, the Administrative Court in Rennes finally recognised that four of the orders we had challenged were illegal. These texts, which have once and for a all been declared null, were in no way necessary. In their eagerness to satisfy farmers, government representatives were once again unable to demonstrate that they had sought alternative solutions before ordering these killings. Blocking chimneys, using repellents, targeted feeding, crop rotation… there are many methods of cohabitation. In addition to sparing the animals, these are more sustainable, as shooting is not even effective against crop damage, which the judge was quick to point out, highlighting “the risk of exacerbating the problem by boosting jackdaw populations”.

The courts are no longer fooled

This victory is part of a growing body of case law favouring the jackdaws. At the end of 2024, the Administrative Court of Appeal in Nantes already emphasised the importance of using non-lethal measures before considering killing animals belonging to protected species. Six months later, we obtained the suspension of new orders in three regions, with the same call for the protection of animals.

Wherever jackdaws are targeted, we will continue to respond! Add your voice to ours by signing our petition for radical reform of hunting.

Wolves in utmost danger: a draft decree reducing their protection unveiled

Wolves in utmost danger: a draft decree reducing their protection unveiled
27.11.2025
Wolves in utmost danger: a draft decree reducing their protection unveiled
Wildlife

The draft ministerial decree on wolves marks a dramatic turning point for these animals: shooting them will become easier than ever –in many cases, a simple declaration will suffice– while measures to protect livestock will no longer even be mandatory. A massacre is on the cards to satisfy the demands of agricultural lobbies and hunters who have only one thing on their minds: the outright eradication of every wolf in France. Faced with this unprecedented assault, it is time for a widespread and massive mobilisation: until 19 December, take part in the public consultation to say no to this historic setback!

Wolves removed from the list of protected species: the great regression continues

The draft decree begins with a shocking announcement: wolves are purely and simply removed from the list of protected mammals in France. Instead, the government is trying to build a scheme out of thin air which pursues the clear objective of making culling ever easier and contains worrying legal uncertainty about the penalties incurred for poaching.

The text does formally maintain a general ban on killing, capturing or disturbing wolves, but the exemptions are so broad and so easy to obtain that they will become the norm. This draft is only one step, and we know where it will lead: to wolves becoming huntable. The government is not saying so, but the administrative machinery is in motion, and the agricultural and hunting lobbies are throwing their weight behind it. Only a massive mobilisation will defeat their nightmarish project.

Lethal shooting without herd protection: an intolerable shift

For most herds, the text now authorises lethal shooting in the absence of any protective measures. No more need for guard dogs. No more need for fences. No more need for guards. Nothing. In other words, farmers will be able to kill wolves in the name of defending a herd… that they have not even made the effort to protect.

The state is compensating for the lack of protection by offering the rifle as the default solution. This is a historic break with the principle of protecting endangered species… but one that nevertheless led to the killing of nearly 200 individuals each year. From now on, the first step is to shoot, and then perhaps protect, or perhaps not. This is a total reversal and an unprecedented act of violence against the wildlife of our country.

This draft decree paves the way for the mass slaughter of wolves and constitutes a serious break with any ethic of coexistence. We cannot allow such a setback for wild animals to happen. The heritage of future generations is at stake. Until 19 December, take part in the consultation to oppose the massacre of wolves, and sign our petition. If the decree is published as it stands, we will take legal action against it.

Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves! Stop the persecution of wolves!