And 9! The Administrative Tribunal rules in favour of One Voice once more for the bears in the Pyrenees.
Following what we consider to be a miscarriage of justice – the Ariège Prefecture has retracted two decrees contrary to the legal ruling from the Toulouse Administrative Tribunal which suspended the scaring of brown bears in the Pyrenees – yesterday, the day after their publication, we urgently filed an interim suspension to stop new applications for scaring. The Tribunal ruled in favour of the bears and therefore in favour of One Voice once again. True humiliation for the Prefecture.
Photo: Collectif Hope
We are asking for peace for the bears, those who are born on French soil and those placed there by force in a hostile environment, after having been uprooted from their families and their country. On one of the mountain pastures, the suspension will prevent the surge of violence that the farmers intend for the bears: flash-balls, sting-ball grenades… On another, they could have had a blast last night, the Prefecture having done everything possible to reduce the time between publication and the application of these laws. All to try to appease discontented farmers…
At the hearing, the services of the Prefecture had made the trip, not understanding how we can object to the fact that animals who are already having trouble surviving without this (and protected by numerous laws!) are thus pushed out of their territory and with so much violence. The Court therefore justified its decision in the following terms:
«Even though it remains subject to debate, the risk that the implementation of these measures will have the effect of pushing bears away from these mountain pastures, which is a component of their natural habitat, and therefore of evicting them from part of their natural range, is not invalid. In the same way, the science alludes to a non-negligible risk that the animal might be subject to auditory injuries, risk of separation from cubs during the flight of the females following, and abortion for pregnant females from the effects of double detonation shots.»
It is difficult to be crystal clear on the risks entailed for bears subjected to ‘scaring shots’. What is more is that this method has not been proven to be effective in protecting herds. Herds made up of animals — should we remind you again? — who are destined for the abattoir and whose losses are compensated.
It is a legally substantiated decision that reminds the Prefecture of the authority of a legal decision that they cannot get around at will. In the absence of new elements, the Court’s annoyance regarding the Ariège Prefecture is particularly noticeable.
«By issuing their new decree of 29 August 2022 and justifying it as they did, without resolving the serious doubt that had justified the decision to suspend their previous decree of 24 June 2022, the Ariège Prefect seems to have directly misled the authority that was linked to the judge’s ruling on the emergency interim proceedings at the Toulouse Administrative Tribunal on 22 August 2022[…] Consequently, the argument alleging that these two decrees from the Ariège Prefect violate the rulings by the judge on 3 August 2022 and 22 August 2022 is capable of creating, at this stage of the investigation, serious doubt regarding the legality of these decrees.»
Considering that the Prefecture therefore still did not justify that the conditions were met for breaching the protection of bears, the Tribunal has urgently suspended these new decrees.
We are ready to attack once more if by chance the Prefecture publishes other similar decrees concerning the five mountain pastures remaining.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice