In the Gers region, an order to cull 660 foxes for “experimental” purposes

In the Gers region, an order to cull 660 foxes for “experimental” purposes
27.02.2025
Gers
In the Gers region, an order to cull 660 foxes for “experimental” purposes
Wildlife

In the Gers department, four lieutenants of louveterie and pests have been given free rein until December 2025 to kill 660 foxes in the name of a pseudo-study aimed at gaining a better understanding of their diet. This is utter nonsense, given that several thousand foxes are already killed in this region every year. One Voice is challenging these decrees and will be at the Pau Administrative Court on 4 March at 2:30 p.m. to seek their urgent suspension.

Constantly hunted, foxes know no respite

The prefect has given carte blanche to the lieutenants of louveterie and pests. The aim? To examine foxes’ stomachs to find out more about the diet of these red-coated animals. The usefulness of this study is questionable, not to mention the many non-lethal alternatives that could have been implemented. The killings will be carried out day and night, by all means, in 70 municipalities. And once again, the prefect is taking advantage of the situation to transfer to sworn hunters the responsibility of deciding where, when and how they will intervene. One can easily imagine them delighted: “If you want something done right, do it yourself!”

This is no longer just inconsistent, it is outright persecution. It is difficult to imagine animals that are easier to kill: classified as ESOD, they can be dug out of their burrows, trapped and shot all year round. While we await the outcome of our appeal against this audacious classification, it is a bloodbath. Not to mention recreational hunting, which begins on 1 June for these animals, instead of September for other species. 

Hunting in the name of science: a new trend in France?

The state is prepared to do whatever it takes to authorise the killing of wild animals in the name of the sacrosanct “leisure” of a small influential minority. Last-minute publication of decrees, the opening of certain hunts in several stages in order to confuse us, as well as unlimited hunts –we are used to these plots. 

Never short of ideas, it is now invoking science, as it so often does to authorise massacres in the name of experimentation. But this is not entirely new: after our repeated victories against traditional hunts, the state is seeking to reintroduce them in the name of “scientific experimentation”, which we managed to suspend partially.

We are challenging these four decrees in order to combat the persecution of foxes and the misuse of science. We will be present on 4 March at 2.30 p.m. at the administrative court in Pau. In the meantime, please sign our petitions to demand a radical reform of hunting and the removal of foxes from the list of animals that can be killed without restriction!

Suspicious death of the wounded wolf in the Saône-et-Loire region? We request a copy of the autopsy report

Suspicious death of the wounded wolf in the Saône-et-Loire region? We request a copy of the autopsy report
26.02.2025
Saône-et-Loire
Suspicious death of the wounded wolf in the Saône-et-Loire region? We request a copy of the autopsy report
Wildlife

On Sunday February 16, the crippled wolf that had been the target of a relentless attack in the Saône-et-Loire region for over a year was found lifeless. On Monday, the Chalon-sur-Saône public prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation into the wolf’s death. Why? Did the autopsy reveal a possible act of poaching? We have requested access to it. And we’re filing a complaint against a person unknown.

He was the last wolf in the department. Since he was wounded in the leg in December 2023, he had survived with difficulty, still a victim of the obsession of breeders and authorities determined to finish him off. Our proposal to the prefecture to take him in had gone unheeded… In its view, it was clearly better to wait for him to die, one way or another. In mid-February, its wishes were granted.

But the story doesn’t end there. Yesterday, the Chalon-sur-Saône public prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation into the wolf’s death. Why are the courts taking up the case? Has the autopsy revealed that it was not a natural death? Was the wolf shot illegally? Or worse, had he been cowardly poisoned, like others before him?

Wherever wolves are endangered, we counterattack

In the Alpes-Maritimes region, too, the authorities are stubborn. So much so, in fact, that they are extending the reinforced defense shootings, without carrying out any new examination of the situation. We have, of course, called for these measures to be suspended as a matter of urgency. 

Nurtured by the powerful livestock and hunting lobbies, hostility to wolves is such that the European Commission has not hesitated to call for an accelerated adoption of the proposal to downgrade these animals. A lethal measure at a time when wolf populations remain fragile, and for which there is no scientific justification. We immediately made an inter-associative request, which was accepted. With our partners, we are now taking our arguments to the European Court of Justice. And we’re launching the European Action Wolves campaign to amplify the voice of wolf defenders throughout Europe.

Join the mobilization by signing our petition to put an end to the persecution of wolves.

Reinforced defense shots against wolves illegally extended: One Voice confronts the Alpes-Maritimes prefect!

Reinforced defense shots against wolves illegally extended: One Voice confronts the Alpes-Maritimes prefect!
Alpes-Maritimes Reinforced defense shots against wolves illegally extended: One Voice confronts the Alpes-Maritimes prefect!
Wildlife

At the beginning of January 2025, the Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region extended the deadline for killing wolves in the department by extending the reinforced defense shooting permits of six livestock farmers. All without deigning to check that their situation still met the conditions for maintaining these shots with a tenfold effect. On February 26 at 8.45am*, we will be asking the Nice administrative court to suspend these texts, which we believe are blatantly illegal.

In France, any excuse is good for facilitating the extermination of wolves: from the irresponsible government’s position that cattle herds cannot be protected, to the numerous illegal decrees issued by prefects! The Alpes-Maritimes prefect is no exception, renewing for 2025 the reinforced defense shooting authorizations granted to six farmers in 2024. The problem? Apart from his perpetual wolf-bashing, he didn’t see fit to check that the conditions for extending these texts were still in place. And yet, the law requires it!

A prefect who issues shootings indiscriminately, flouting the law

The prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region no longer even bothers to do his job. He is supposed to re-examine the particular situation of the beneficiaries before once again allowing them to shoot wolves from all sides: literally up to 10 shooters can target at the same time those unfortunate enough to venture near the farm animals.

Worse still, the prefect doesn’t care about the rigor required for derogations to the (still) strict protection of species. Indeed, he has not even made the effort to write specific recitals for each beneficiary: the decrees are virtually identical!

Over-indulgent with breeders and quick to harm wolves, he limited himself to a general affirmation of the implementation of protective means, without checking their effectiveness as it was his duty to do before extending the death warrants for wolf cubs and their families for the year 2025.

Progressive, gradual killing: wolves’ lives illegally taken 

Those “likely” to attack the herds (which are then led to the slaughterhouse without the tears or cries of their owners) are supposedly killed gradually: first “gently” (euphemism) with three simultaneous shooters, then “violently” by mobilizing the equivalent of a combat group to assault them with gunfire. After all, wolves are still a protected species, and the last thing we need is to give the impression that the public services are out to get them. That’s a likely story!

As the Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region is abusing his position, it is urgent to suspend the effects of these orders. When the judge grants us a hearing to overturn them, it will be too late for the wolves already killed because of irresponsible decrees! Let’s not allow the massacre of animals that are precious in their own right, and that have their rightful place in nature in fact as well as in the eyes of the majority of French people.

To put an end to the abominations suffered by wolves, sign our petition!

*Our hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday February 26 has been moved by the Nice Administrative Court to Friday February 28 at 9:30 am. We’ll be there for the wolves!

Six associations, including One Voice, are swinging into action to defend chamois

Six associations, including One Voice, are swinging into action to defend chamois
France
Six associations, including One Voice, are swinging into action to defend chamois
Wildlife

Persecuted by hunters, poached by elected officials, denounced for spurious reasons, chamois are in distress. Nature and animal protection associations, including One Voice, are rushing to their rescue. Together with our partners ASPAS, Focale pour le Sauvage, Humanimo, Pôle Grands Prédateurs and Vigie Jura, we are expressing our dissatisfaction to the public authorities. Joint letters, legal action… We are using all the means at our disposal to stop the persecution of these animals.

From the Doubs to the Alpes-Maritimes region, via the Territoire de Belfort, chamois are the victims of a huge disinformation campaign.

Indifferent politicians, or worse, chamois poachers

Chamois are peaceful animals, capable of self-regulation, that delight mountain walkers when they are lucky enough to spot them. However, to please hunters and farmers, prefects accuse them of being “aggressive” towards animals destined for slaughter or of “damaging” forests. How ironic! They are an integral part of the mountains, just like other high-altitude creatures, which are also being hunted down.

Sold out to hunting lobbies, prefects are destroying wildlife and their habitat (which is incidentally ours). Why would they be interested in the lives of these animals, or at least their role in the environment, while they can get gun owners on their side ?

Public decision-makers are so committed to destroying biodiversity that they sometimes poach chamois themselves.

It’s only a short step from letters to the courts to chamois!

The hatred of chamois knows no boundaries between departments: despite a drastically declining population, the Drôme region wanted to cull 1,000 in the spring of 2024, and the Doubs region almost 600 this winter.

Chamois are peaceful animals that cause no trouble to anyone in the mountains, where our human species occupies every single inch of land. On the contrary, encountering them on a mountain trail is just magic ! We must protect their habitat and leave them in peace, for their sake and for future generations.” Muriel Arnal President of One Voice

The State remains decidedly blind and deaf to living in harmony with nature and the other inhabitants of the planet. And this is not the first time that the Doubs prefecture has been in the news…

After the peregrine falcons and the big ravens, we will not let it attack the chamois in this way. Following multiple letters co-written with our partners ASPAS, Focale pour le Sauvage, Humanimo, Pôle Grands Prédateurs and Vigie Jura, the executive continues to turn a deaf ear (or perhaps it has selective hearing: only the wishes of hunters are the frequencies it picks up).

You can read our joint letter by clicking here.

In alliance with ASPAS, we have taken legal action against the Doubs decree on hunting plans for chamois for 2024/2025.

Sign the petition to implement about ten urgent measures to radically reform hunting.