Night-time shooting of wild boars in Moselle: an order without limits

In the Moselle region, the prefect authorises the “destruction” (sic) of wild boar at night, from a hide, using light sources and thermal imaging equipment, from 13 December 2025 to 14 April 2026. To protect these persecuted animals, One Voice is calling for the urgent suspension of this order. The hearing will take place on 14 January at 11am at the Administrative Court in Strasbourg.

A generalised authorisation

The decree allows an unlimited number of night-time shootings throughout the region, covering 725 municipalities, for 122 days, with no limit on the number of animals killed. Hunters are free to kill them at night and to be accompanied by an unlimited number of shooters. As it stands, this text paves the way for the potential slaughter of hundreds, even thousands, of wild boar. A massacre.

Hunting from a hide involves waiting motionless for an animal to pass by and then shooting it by surprise. At night, with the use of lighting or thermal devices, this means that the wild boar have no chance of escape, and carnage is inevitable.

Wild boar hunted all year round

Wild boar are already the most hunted animals in Moselle. The hunting calendar gives them only two weeks of respite per year. Fifteen short days of peace without bullets whizzing by, out of the whole year. Allowing night shooting for several months on top of that is tantamount to creating permanent hunting pressure. This means round-the-clock terror for all wildlife trying to survive in the region. This trivialisation of violence is part of a worrying climate of contempt, where wild boar can be treated like common rubbish.

This pressure is exerted using military-grade hunting weapons with a range of several kilometres, which poses serious risks to public safety for both residents and walkers.

A so-called “regulation”

Presented as a regulatory measure, this decision is based on a misinterpretation. Despite record culls —881,372 wild boar killed in 2024-2025— populations continue to grow, and agricultural damage persists. Across the country, wild boar are now being relentlessly hunted, as in the Indre region, where the prefecture has invented the absurd concept of ‘affinity hunting’ to justify ever more killings, or in Gard and Corsica, where illegal hunts have been authorised. Hunting perpetuates a vicious circle of which it is both the cause and the main beneficiary. And the prefecture is once again allowing hunters to indulge in their hobby with almost total freedom.

Justice in the face of guns

One Voice has taken legal action and is seeking the urgent suspension of this prefectural order. The hearing will be held on 14 January at 11am at the Administrative Court in Strasbourg. Wildlife cannot be sacrificed for the sake of a leisure activity without limits, in defiance of the law, public safety and respect for living beings. In the meantime, sign and share our petition for a radical reform of hunting.