Mountain Galliformes: more than a thousand birds spared from hunting
In a decision handed down on January 27, 2026, the Nice Administrative Court dismissed our appeal.
In 2023, in the Alpes-Maritimes department, the departmental hunting federation authorized the killing of 31 black grouse and 33 rock partridges, two species that are already vulnerable. The major problem was that the prefect had not set any annual limit on the number of animals that could be killed. In other words, hunters gave themselves the right to kill without any clear framework or limits set by the state.
Even more shocking is that, in a decision handed down on January 27, 2026, the Nice Administrative Court rejected our appeal. It considers that hunting federations can directly issue individual shooting permits, without the prefect having to issue an annual decree setting a maximum number of animals to be killed. This decision confirms a serious abuse: the “management” of wildlife is left to the hunters themselves, to the detriment of biodiversity protection and the public interest. Birds in danger of extinction are persecuted, hunted, and decimated in the name of leisure.
So that the birds at the mountain tops get some respite, we have made sure that hunters did not get any. Since the end of August, we have attacked numerous decisions made by prefects or directly by hunters’ federations with emergency interim proceedings. Their aim is to allow the killing of black grouse, rock partridges, hazel grouse, rock ptarmigans, and grey partridges in the Pyrénées. Judges have announced numerous suspensions, thus sparing the lives of a considerable number of mountain Galliformes.
In the Alps, more than a thousand birds will not be riddled with bullets
The Grenoble and Marseille Administrative Tribunals (ATs) have suspended hunting, sometimes based on our reasoning linked to the intolerable nature of hunting animals that are already shaken up by the consequences of global warming and the constant disruption linked with tourist numbers in mountain ranges, and sometimes on more technical arguments. More than once, prefects have simply given carte blanche to hunters and left them to determine the quotas of animals to be killed themselves.
The absurdity of continuing to kill individuals whose species is in a poor state of conservation also hits home when it comes to hazel grouse in Isère and before the Marseille judge whose rulings made it possible for black grouse and rock partridges to be spared in their masses.
Despite a few steps back, the fight continues
There are unfortunately several downsides when it comes to the Pyrénées and Alpes-Maritimes departments, where we clashed with the against-the-tide line of reasoning from the Montpellier, Toulouse, Pau, and Nice Administrative Tribunals, who rejected our requests. The disappointment is particularly bitter because, due to a lack of suspension, the bloodbath of partridges, grouse, and rock ptarmigans has in fact happened.
But we are not discouraged yet. Although the cancellations that we will obtain a posteriori will not bring the birds back to life, they will be used in future appeals to potentially spare the next ones. In fact, given the energy used by the State to pander to hunters’ every whim – as evidenced by a new decree just after the suspension of the previous one in the Pyrénées-Orientales, where questionable experiments were aimed at reviving the traditional hunting of larks, lapwings, etc. – there is no doubt that the massacring of mountain birds, even though they are threatened everywhere, will be authorised for the 2024-2025 season.
In total, the lives of 20 hazel grouse in Isère, 422 rock partridges (6 in Haute-Savoie, 219 in Savoie, 35 in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, and 162 in the Hautes-Alpes) and of 723 black grouse (201 in Haute-Savoie, 404 in Savoie, 45 in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, and 73 in the Hautes-Alpes) will be saved with our actions! How is it accepted that we, animal defenders, have to end up hindering the prefectures who authorise this themselves?
Our rallying helps to give these fragile animals visibility, silent witnesses to their own decline, and to protect them from guns. No bird or animal has to die at the hands of a small group of humans for their entertainment. We will continue to hammer this home until the State listens to reason.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice
In a decision handed down on January 27, 2026, the Nice Administrative Court dismissed our appeal.
In 2023, in the Alpes-Maritimes department, the departmental hunting federation authorized the killing of 31 black grouse and 33 rock partridges, two species that are already vulnerable. The major problem was that the prefect had not set any annual limit on the number of animals that could be killed. In other words, hunters gave themselves the right to kill without any clear framework or limits set by the state.
Even more shocking is that, in a decision handed down on January 27, 2026, the Nice Administrative Court rejected our appeal. It considers that hunting federations can directly issue individual shooting permits, without the prefect having to issue an annual decree setting a maximum number of animals to be killed. This decision confirms a serious abuse: the “management” of wildlife is left to the hunters themselves, to the detriment of biodiversity protection and the public interest. Birds in danger of extinction are persecuted, hunted, and decimated in the name of leisure.