Justice for Caramelles, the bear killed by a hunter!
At the end of 2021, Caramelles was killed in the Ariège region during an illegal hunt in the heart of the Mont Valier hunting and wildlife reserve. She left behind two cubs, left to fend for themselves. Following our complaint, the investigation identified 16 poachers, all of whom bear responsibility for her death. They will be tried on 18 and 19 March from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the legal tribunal in Foix, where we are part of the court action.
The sound of bullets, the silence of the Ministry
20 November 2021. During a wild boar hunt, several hunters knowingly entered the Mont Valier reserve. The signage is clear; they cannot ignore the fact that this is a protected area.
Caramelles and her cubs, already paralysed with fear by the screams and projectiles whistling through the air, have the misfortune of crossing paths with one of the shooters. Seeking to protect her cubs, the bear wounds the man who responds by killing her. She thus suffered the same fate as her mother Mellba, who was also shot dead in the Haute-Garonne region in 1997. Following our complaint, sixteen people will have to answer for their actions in court. And what about the Ministry of Ecology in all this? At no point did it see fit to take legal action over this environmental scandal, leaving it, as always, to associations to defend non-humans and biodiversity in its place.
A mother shot dead, cubs left orphaned
We know their arguments in advance, as they do not hesitate to turn against their own people who have been caught red-handed and flouting basic safety rules. They will accuse them of being “bad hunters”. As for the individual who killed the bear, they will invoke self-defence. This does not change the fact that these men should not have entered Caramelles’ territory. Ready to answer back, these poachers have been working together for months in order to hide their crimes. We are calling for their licences to be revoked and their weapons confiscated.
There remains the question of Caramelles’ two ten-month-old cubs. They were probably still learning from their mother and had not yet been taught how to hibernate. This is at a time when the situation is critical for this species of which only 83 remain in the Pyrenees today. Every summer they are harassed by scare shots, which we are challenging in court, as it is also pointless to count on the prefectures to protect the bears. This summer harassment puts a target on the bears, opening the door to abuse by hunters.
In order to obtain justice for Caramelles, we will be present at the court in Foix on 18 and 19 March. It is out of the question to ask for her to be “replaced” at the taxpayer’s expense by one of her fellow bears captured in Slovenia or elsewhere. Animals are not interchangeable pieces of furniture. Rather than uprooting bears, the ministry would do better to take action to protect those already in our mountains.
If, like 87% of French people surveyed by Ipsos for One Voice, you believe that these animals have their place in nature, sign our petition to stop scare shots and give them a real protection.
And for all bears, we will be participating in the World Day organised by our partner AVES France in Strasbourg on 21 and 22 March.
Photo: The bear Caramelles with Boet or Esmolet in 2014, image taken by one of the camera traps located in the Alt Pirineu Natural Park (Catalonia) – Generalitat de Catalunya CC BY-SA 4.0