One Voice in Rouen against the hunting of red foxes in l’Eure, hearing scheduled for the 3rd April

 One Voice and its partners,
ASPAS and Groupe Mammalogique Normand, seek to suspend the l’Eure
decree allowing night shooting by specialist hunters of the Louvreie
on foxes throughout the department. This interim suspension is part
of the appeal for the annulment of this prefectural order dated 8^th
February 2019 for excess of power. The hearing will take place at
9:30 am on April 3^rd
2019 at the administrative court of Rouen.

Muriel Arnal, president and
founder of One Voice, says:

False pretexts for the development of a bloody past time

To
be justified, these derogations must be exceptional and punctual. In
addition, the Prefect must prove that damage done is attributable
only to foxes. But
in this eleven-month decree (so not punctual) that allows to shoot
foxes to kill them at night, there is not even a limit to the number
of individuals killed (therefore not exceptional) ! Moreover, the
fallacious arguments of the Prefecture are once again being augmented
by the associations of hunters who do everything to develop their
leisure time. Yet, no proven agricultural damage, no evidence of fox
involvement.

One
Voice will defend the red foxes again and again. The association
regrets that once again the services of the State are instrumental in
this destruction. Under the pretext of “regulation”, where
here only private interests are protected.

Foxes help us

In
truth, the existence of red foxes on the land is a great asset for
farmers and for the entire population, because their diet allows both
to avoid the spread of pesticides in the fields and to limit the
progression of Lyme disease (for more details, refer to the 2017 report).

But
hunters can already hunt them throughout the year. Is there really a
need to add more? There are more than half a million of them being slaughtered each year. They are nevertheless an asset to the
biodiversity and have their place in the ecosystems. Mankind cannot
permanently consider all those who live in the same territory as us
as pests to simply just annihilate them !

One Voice and the defence of red foxes

In
recent months, the association One Voice has had the Prefectural
decrees of Meurthe-et-Moselle and Moselle annulled, allowing to save
hundreds of foxes. A first. In previous cases though, the orders were
cancelled only once the foxes had been already dead.

One
Voice calls for foxes to be removed from the list of species likely
to cause damage (e.g., “harmful”). Concerning the suspension and
annulment of the l’Eure decree, the hearing is scheduled at the
administrative court of Rouen on 3^rd
April at 9.30 am. The One Voice lawyer will be representing the three
associations against the Prefecture.