A new double victory for One Voice: responsiveness and belligerence write the case law for bears in Ariège!
Our determination for bears has allowed us not to dwell on last week’s negative decision. In fact, the Toulouse Administrative Tribunal has just suspended the two decrees published on Monday evening (31 July 2023). No scaring shots will therefore take place tonight nor the next on the Arreau and Ourdouas pastures (second suspension ordered this year).
The hearing set for this morning was presided by a judge who had never had to rule before on our freedom emergency interim proceedings since the start of our weekly battles with the Ariège Prefecture. Among the questions he asked, we remembered this one in particular: if the scaring shots are so necessary and significant, why pass decrees for such a short duration?
We found the reasoning given by the judge for the Arreau pasture magnificent, and even more satisfying after the rejection the week before. Several specific arguments that we struggle with every time have finally been accepted, in particular on the issue of night watchmen, proof of significant damage, and proof that these simple scaring shots have taken place before any escalation of the measures implemented.
For the Ourdouas ‘shepherding group’, it was the same: the judge also referred the Prefecture to its responsibilities. It is for them, among others, to prove that the bears are the cause, not for us to justify that they have nothing to do with it.
This time, and it is a huge relief, the decisions have been returned before the shots even started. They are in line with the position we defend and are argued by Hélène Thouy and Olivier Vidal. Beyond the principle, it is also about, and above all against, the abuse of the Prefecture, who, let’s remember, only publishes these decrees to satisfy the farming lobby, without having the legal justification to do so.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice