A counter-power to the hunters must emerge!

Since the election of the new President of the Republic, the hunters have received nothing but gifts and have not faced any setbacks or conceded anything! The cause of wild animals has never been so precarious. Worse, their defenders are threatened and attacked! It is time to change; the population is ready for reforms to restrict the rights of hunters. Impunity must stop. So many species are disappearing; France must take its share of the responsibility. We call on all animal welfare associations in France and Europe to join us in Paris on Saturday 13th October for a big gathering against hunting, for the respect of animals and the safeguarding of biodiversity.

For months now we had realised that Nicolas Hulot was a “token green” for the President of the Republic, nothing more to him than a nice political trophy. With the resignation of the minister announced live on France Inter Tuesday August 28th 2018, it is confirmed. Emmanuel Macron’s “Make our planet great again” was nothing but dust, the president eats from the hunters’ hand. The straw that broke the camel’s back: a meeting held the day before for which Nicolas Hulot had demanded the absence of the lobbyist for guns and hunting; when he arrived, he was waiting for him. Ahead of the President’s response, (“I do not know how this gentleman had arrived”), Nicolas Hulot considered they were making fun of him.

We recall that in France hunting kills every year 45 million wild animals – or from animals bred for hunting- not counting the “collateral” human and animal victims. Now we are experiencing the sixth mass extinction! 

Hunting is neither a hobby nor a lifestyle! And it is not by replacing the words “kill” and “shoot” with those of “manage”, “harvest” or “serve” that the practice is less cruel to animals and less harmful to nature. It is time for such destructive activity to be banned. 

Since May 2017, the cruel ways of hunting birds continue whilst our European neighbours restrict or prohibit them. Hunting with hounds and horses scandalizes the population, but huntsmen continue to whack horses and dogs with whips while terrorizing and slaughtering animals in the undergrowth. Foxes are hunted all year long even during the breeding season and right into their burrows and even at night. Dozens of wolves are condemned to death each year, despite being a protected species. The hunters are even empowered by some police chiefs to take over the work of gendarmes, and thus a private militia is born! It is an independent militia that seizes the opportunity! Walkers are in danger in the forests, including at weekends and during holidays. the halving of the cost of a hunting licence that allows killing almost for free… This is extremely worrying and dangerous. Love for nature does not go hand in hand with destruction, degradation and animal suffering, but only with respect and wonder. 

We demand a deep and radical reform of hunting while waiting for its outright ban. Push forward with us:

1. An independent hunting police;
2. A ban of hunting species with a precarious conservation status ;
3. A ban of hunting during the breeding season ;
4. A ban on killing traps ;
5. The end of « traditional » hunting methods (glue, dead fall traps for birds, snares, hunting on lacs, hunting on the slopes …) ;
6. A ban on underground hunting for all species ;
7. A ban on hunting with hounds for all species ;
8. A ban on hunting in protected areas (National Parks, Nature Reserves, Ecological Reserves) ;
9. 2 day a week without hunting or trapping (including Sundays) and during the whole of the school holidays;
10. Yearly compulsory health’s check to obtain a hunting licence including an eye test.

Please sign and share our petition! And join us along with many others on October 13th in Paris!