Ban hunting at home? A civic act !
One Voice leads a nonviolent fight to defend animal rights and respect all life forms. The organization operates independently and is thus free to speak and act freely.
Your land, your conscience… In France, the uses and the law allow hunters to exercise their right to “leisure” on someone else’s property. The texts are complex, but you can act so that your property becomes a haven of peace for animals. How ?
It’s
a kind of anti-hunting extension of our Arches of Nature, which aims
to reclaim our environment, for a richer and more varied
biodiversity… One Voice wants to encourage every French landowner
to make a sanctuary of their land, without having to endure hunters
and their dogs who can freely pass through it to hunt down their
victims.
A hunter hunting at your place …
Because
the hunting lobby has nevertheless succeeded in an historic feat of
having, in the name of the general interest accorded to their hunting
activities, the right to relieve the owners of private land of the
power to say no… Since 1964 and the Verdeille law, named after an
ardent Senator from the Tarn and who is a hunter, France has enjoyed
a special feature. This special feature is from the Communal Hunting
Associations approved (or ACCA, which can be intercommunal, or AICA).
Aiming
to establish important hunting areas, the Verdeille law obliges small
landowners to bring to these associations certain hunting rights
linked to their land so that third parties (hunters) can make use of
it. The implementation of this law has been special: today it follows
that some municipalities are under the ACCA (or AICA) regime, and
others are not.
In
the first case, hunters can hunt at your place without asking for
your permission, but they are however obliged to respect a security
perimeter of 150 m around the dwellings. In the second case
(excluding ACCA), there is no security perimeter and the hunters will
be able to shoot against your garden fence or, if there is no fence,
cross it!
What
scheme does your municipality depend on? The easiest way is to get
information from your town hall.
Thank you, Europe!
You
should know that this Verdeille law was modified following an action
brought by owners before the European Court of Human Rights, who were
successful. Since July 26th
2000, a non-hunter can thus withdraw his lands from an approved
Communal Hunting Association subject to making an express request.
If
your municipality is outside the Association Communale de Chasse
Agréée (ACCA or AICA), you can very simply prohibit hunting at home
by affixing, at the edge of the property, signs specifying that you
do not accept the practice of hunting on your land.
If
your municipality is in the ACCA, as soon as your land is fenced off
in a “continuous and constant manner, preventing any communication
with all neighbouring land and completely preventing the passage of
game and that of man“, they are automatically excluded from
hunting territory (Article L. 422-10 and L. 424-3 of the Environment
Code).
Otherwise,
you can also formulate a territorial opposition to the practice of
hunting on your land if they is a minimum of 20 hectares in one area
(3 ha in the case of marshes, 1 ha for a pond… but at least 100 ha
in mountain areas above the limit of forest vegetation). You will
then have to write to the prefect of your department (registered
letter with acknowledgment of receipt), mentioning the cadastral
references of all the parcels concerned (Articles L. 422-10 3 °, L.
422-13 and L. 422- 18 of the Environment Code).
No to hunting, a real conviction!
Fortunately,
small landowners can also ban hunting in the name of their personal
convictions (Art. L. 422-10 5 °, L. 422-14, L. 422-15 and L. 422-18
of the Code of the environment). But this is a real act of faith
because it requires an important formalism.
Here
you must send the Prefect of your department a registered letter with
acknowledgment of receipt stating that you want your land to be
prohibited from hunting due to your personal beliefs (see attached standard letter). Please note, this request must be made within a
specific period (at least six months before the expiration of a
period of five years from the date of creation of your ACCA. Your
prefecture must inform you of this date upon request).
In
addition to three copies of your request letter, in addition to the
cadastral maps and plot numbers of the land concerned, it is
recommended to attach copies of the letters that you wish to send to
the local hunting society, the mayor and the services. ONCFS
premises, to inform them of your decision. Let’s be civil …
Once
the ACCA withdrawal is granted, you will be required to place “no
hunting” signs along your property lines. Be careful, the law is
tenacious: if you sell your property, the new owner will have to
confirm within six months the withdrawal of the ACCA, otherwise the
land will fall back into the rights to roam, in other words into the
bosom of the hunters.