Is it the end of underground hunting with hounds? Five new victories!

The decisions obtained in these five departments confirm the suspensions that were given a few months ago, which have allowed thousands of badgers’ lives to be spared. From now on, doubt is no longer allowed: underground hunting with hounds is not only an archaic practice, but it is also illegal in spring and summer because it puts the young in danger.

The hell of digging out: thousands of animals massacred completely illegally?

Whether it be foxes or badgers, the victims of underground hunting with hounds experience moments of absolute terror when diggers decide to take them from their burrows and from their families. When proceedings are not botched by the prefects, in a hurry to satisfy hunters’ demands, and therefore cancelled with a click of their fingers, the tribunals now systematically confirm what we have been stating for years: this type of hunting leads to the killing, completely illegally, of badger cubs. Recently, in Réunion, the legal system has also taken up this argument in favour of tenrecs, who themselves are hunted in their burrows…

Stop the persecution: no exemptions this year!

Despite the decisions obtained being clear – 30 urgent suspensions and already 8 definitive cancellations – the State is set against these animals who simply aspire to live peacefully, far from the picture painted by hunters who accuse them of all evils (without ever providing any proof, of course). The few exceptions (in Savoie and Meurthe-et-Moselle, the additional period was never even opened thanks to our actions) do not hide behind the huge influence hunters have on the authorities that are supposed to represent general interests.

It is high time to say stop! We will continue the fight this year, anywhere where badgers are in danger. But we need you to put pressure on the authorities! Support our petition to get digging out banned as one of the pioneering measures of our radical reform on hunting, and to get badgers classified as a protected species! Address the following message to the prefecture in your department:

“Dear Sir/Madam Prefect,

For several months, tribunals have widely been cancelling the decrees authorising an additional period for underground badger hunting with hounds (recently 8 cancellations by the Caen, Limoges, and Clermont-Ferrand Administrative Tribunals). Please could you commit to following the law and not authorising the digging out of these animals in spring and summer while the young are present in the setts? For all of these animals promised to suffer unbearably, follow the law!”

Translated from the French by Joely Justice