Badgers: one suspension and three revocations mark a further setback for digging-out
With World Badger Day just a few days away, four new victories have been added to those already secured by the organisation One Voice in its fight against the digging-out of badgers, a particularly cruel form of hunting. To raise public awareness, two events are planned on Saturday in Metz and Sunday in Limoges.
One Voice has just secured four new victories against the underground hunting of badgers, a barbaric practice that involves pursuing entire families into their burrows to slaughter them.
In the Marne region, the courts have once again called a halt to digging-out
On 7 May, the Administrative Court of Châlons-en-Champagne issued an emergency suspension of the additional period of underground badger hunting scheduled in the Marne region from 15 June to 15 September 2026.
Following a petition by One Voice, ASPAS and AVES, the judge noted in particular the total lack of data on the badger population, the lack of justification for the damage, and the impossibility for the prefecture to ignore the numerous decisions already handed down on the subject, notably by the Administrative Court of Appeal of Bordeaux.
This decision marks the first suspension of the 2026 season. Above all, it serves as a stark reminder: prefectures cannot continue to authorise the slaughter of badgers, nor turn a blind eye to the fate of the young still dependent on their mothers.
In Limoges, three new orders overturned by the courts
The Administrative Court of Limoges has also just overturned the orders authorising additional periods of underground badger hunting in 2024 in the Creuse, Corrèze and Haute-Vienne regions.
Once again, the judge ruled that these orders violated Article L.424-10 of the Environmental Code, which prohibits the killing of young mammals, and that potential damage or alleged overpopulation cannot justify an exemption.
These new rulings add to a long series of victories secured by One Voice and its partners against prefectural orders authorising additional hunting seasons. They are a follow-up to the landmark ruling handed down by the Administrative Court of Appeal of Bordeaux on 24 February 2026, which reiterated that young badgers still dependent on their mothers are ‘young animals’ protected by environmental law.
Despite this, the prefectures – and even the Ministry for Ecological Transition, which has just brought an appeal before the Council of State – persist in defending hunting interests at all costs, even if it means ignoring scientific knowledge, court rulings and the suffering inflicted on these animals.
Eight hours of terror underground
Underground hunting, also known as ‘digging-out’, involves cornering badgers at the bottom of their burrows using dogs sent into the tunnels. Once located, the animals are dug out with pickaxes and crowbars, seized with large metal tongs and then killed.
This hunt can last up to eight hours…
For years, through its undercover investigations and legal actions, One Voice has been exposing the extreme violence of this archaic practice, carried out solely for the pleasure of a handful of individuals. Young badgers still dependent on their mothers are among the victims.
By 2024, the organisation had already helped save nearly 4,000 badgers through its legal challenges against prefectural orders. This campaign continues unabated in 2025 and 2026 to put an end to this abomination.
To mark World Badger Day,
One Voice is calling for action
To mark World Badger Day, celebrated on 15 May, One Voice and its volunteers will organise several awareness-raising events to alert the public to the suffering inflicted on these animals.
Metz – Saturday 16 May 2026, from 2pm to 5pm, between Galeries Lafayette and the Merten Column, Rue Winston Churchill.
La Rochelle – 17 May 2026, from 2.30 pm to 5 pm, Place des Petits-Bancs.
Badgers: one suspension and three revocations mark a further setback for digging-out
Four new victories for One Voice against underground badger hunting