Creuse: after the culling of wolves, dogs are now being targeted
Stray dogs: court refuses to suspend order authorizing their culling in the Creuse region
On November 20, 2025, the urgent applications judge at the Limoges Administrative Court rejected our request to suspend the order authorizing the culling of stray dogs in the Creuse region until December 31, 2025, on the grounds of “lack of urgency”. He refused to rule on the merits of our arguments, and we will have to wait several months for the court to examine the legality of the order.
In recent days, the prefecture had announced that no dogs had been killed so far, and that none were expected to be killed before the end of the year. This argument convinced the judge that there was no urgent need to rule on the matter. More surprisingly, he considered that these possible shootings did not undermine “the conservation of dogs”. This reasoning makes little sense when it comes to domestic animals…
We maintain that this decree, like those adopted last year in the Haute-Vienne and the Aveyron regions, is illegal. We will take action whenever necessary to protect stray dogs, which should be rescued, not killed. And we will continue to campaign for the only viable solution: protecting livestock and coexisting with wolves and abandoned dogs.
With wolves already being hunted, dogs are now becoming the new victims of administrative madness. The Prefecture of Creuse has just authorised the officially appointed huntmasters to kill dogs to “protect livestock”. This is an incredibly brutal decision, sadly reminiscent of the excesses already seen elsewhere in France. Under the guise of defending farmers, the State is institutionalising the killing of domestic animals —who are often lost, sometimes abandoned. We are challenging the order before the Administrative Court in Limoges. The hearing will take place on 19 November at 9.30am.
A familiar scenario: Aveyron, Haute-Vienne… and now Creuse
This is not the first time. Last year, the regions of Aveyron and Haute-Vienne attempted to impose the same deadly orders. In both cases, citizen mobilisation and legal action led to these decisions being suspended or repealed. These precedents should have served as a lesson. But clearly, some prefects want nothing but violence: let’s start again elsewhere, in silence.
Stray dogs, a poorly addressed problem
Stray dogs are not a subject to be dismissed out of hand. Abandoned or left to fend for themselves, they may, out of fear or hunger, approach livestock and cause incidents. But this is precisely where public action should set an example: identifying, collecting and protecting these animals rather than condemning them. Solutions exist – sterilisation and identification campaigns, care in shelters, support for owners – which would simultaneously protect livestock and respect animal life. Culling, on the other hand, is merely an admission of failure and laziness.
Bullets instead of solutions
When wolves are not being targeted, it is dogs. Each time, the same logic is at work: shoot first, think later. Instead of implementing effective and ethical protection measures for livestock, the easy and bloody option is chosen. And hypocrisy reigns: sheep are supposedly being saved, but only to be sent to the slaughterhouse a few months later.
This gun-toting policy is disgraceful. The slaughter of stray animals, whether dogs or wolves, solves nothing. It only serves to maintain a climate of fear and violence, where weapons replace reflection, and where animal life has no value.
We demand the immediate repeal of this order in the Creuse region and an end to these outdated practices. Dogs, like wolves, deserve protection and respect, not bullets from a State that has run out of arguments.
Stray dogs: court refuses to suspend order authorizing their culling in the Creuse region
On November 20, 2025, the urgent applications judge at the Limoges Administrative Court rejected our request to suspend the order authorizing the culling of stray dogs in the Creuse region until December 31, 2025, on the grounds of “lack of urgency”. He refused to rule on the merits of our arguments, and we will have to wait several months for the court to examine the legality of the order.
In recent days, the prefecture had announced that no dogs had been killed so far, and that none were expected to be killed before the end of the year. This argument convinced the judge that there was no urgent need to rule on the matter. More surprisingly, he considered that these possible shootings did not undermine “the conservation of dogs”. This reasoning makes little sense when it comes to domestic animals…
We maintain that this decree, like those adopted last year in the Haute-Vienne and the Aveyron regions, is illegal. We will take action whenever necessary to protect stray dogs, which should be rescued, not killed. And we will continue to campaign for the only viable solution: protecting livestock and coexisting with wolves and abandoned dogs.