The Pau Administrative Tribunal has just rejected our two pleas and those by the LPO. Why would we need to worry about birds?!

We are asking for the complete cancellation of the decree listing species likely to cause damage before the courts and on the streets

We are asking for the complete cancellation of the decree listing species likely to cause damage before the courts and on the streets
31.10.2023
We are asking for the complete cancellation of the decree listing species likely to cause damage before the courts and on the streets
Hunting

On 4 August 2023, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition published a new decree naming the list of ‘species likely to cause damage’. For the next three years, prefects in each department can authorise the trapping and slaughter of these targeted animals, even outside of hunting periods. We are asking the State Council to cancel this cynical law and we are rallying our volunteers in eighteen towns throughout the month of November.

Foxes, martens, weasels, stone martens, carrion crows, rooks, magpies, starlings, and jays… Named as ‘pests’ since 2016, the Ministry is now using the term ‘species likely to cause damage’ without this changing anything about the persecution that they are victims of. Targeted by a new ministerial decree valid for three years and created due to demands from agricultural and hunting lobbies, all of them risk being tracked, trapped, and massacred even outside of the hunting periods that are already authorised, in all departments where the prefects have given this gift to shooting enthusiasts who wish to practise their hobby all year round. Even though 71% of French people are in favour of a ban on trapping these animals according to our recent survey (Ipsos/One Voice Survey, October 2023).

We are referring to the State Council

We have attacked this law since it was published by filing an emergency interim proceeding, then, like other associations, a plea before the State Council. Today, we are continuing this momentum and reinforcing our initial request with an even more developed case file requesting a pure and simple cancellation of this law which rules that economic interests or human comfort take precedence over animals’ lives and biodiversity by de facto allowing hunting outside of the season and the continual trapping of the species concerned. In particular, our request targets around thirty cases* dependent of the species on a departmental level, and above all the pure and simple removal of foxes, rooks, and martens from the ministerial list of species likely to cause damage on a national level.

Throughout the month of November, we are organising coordinated action in around fifteen towns

We will be in Aix-en-Provence, Amiens, Gap, Limoges, Metz, Montpellier, Paris, and Troyes on the 11^th, Bordeaux and Nice on the 12^th, Bar-Le-Duc and Lille on the 18^th, and in Nantes on the 25^th, as well as in Angers, Falaise, La Rochelle, Rouen, and Strasbourg to defend these unwanted animals against the government’s destructive obsession (NB: check the event online before going).

The majority of you supported us in our fight during the public consultation. Continue to oppose these massacres of animals that populate our forests and our countryside along with us!

*One Voice’s requests for de-classification

• Martens in the following departments: Aube, Aude, Haute-Garonne, Hautes-Pyrénées, Pyrénées-Orientales, Saône-et-Loire (6)
• Stone martens: Ain, Allier, Landes, Morbihan, Vendée (5)
• Weasels: Pas-de-Calais (the only department where the species is classified) (1)
• Magpies: Ariège, Aveyron, Charente-Maritime, Gironde, Loiret, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Morbihan, Tarn (9)
• Carrion crows: Aveyron, Hautes-Alpes (2)
• Jays: Corrèze, Tarn-et-Garonne (2)
• Starlings: Corrèze, Eure, Gironde, Loiret, Meuse (5)

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Tribunals are suspending decrees for “traditional” hunting trials in Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, and Ardennes.

At the Montuban tribunal, One Voice is giving birds that are poached by illegal traditional hunting methods a voice.

Ipsos survey for One Voice 2023. French people and hunting: the gap is increasing

Ipsos survey for One Voice 2023. French people and hunting: the gap is increasing
24.10.2023
Ipsos survey for One Voice 2023. French people and hunting: the gap is increasing
Hunting

One Voice has, in October 2023, published the fourth gauge of French people’s opinions regarding hunting, carried out by the Ipsos Institute* (the previous ones are dated 2018, 2021, and 2022). The percentage of French people declaring themselves in opposition of hunting has reached the highest ever seen (53%), which is an increase of five percent in one year. For the first time, the majority of people living in rural areas have said that they oppose hunting. Having been committed for almost thirty years to a single vision for animals, humans, and the planet, One Voice is delighted with this growing dislike between French people and hunting, born from an awareness of what this hobby is: a deadly problem. An analysis of the results.

Deploying a varied legal arsenal for animals…

One Voice (alone or with its partners) has recently won many legal victories against the State on a local and/or national level: the repeated suspension and cancellation of decrees for traditional and glue hunting, the one authorising the digging out of badgers in the period surrounding reproduction, and the protection of bears just to mention the main ones.

Among the cases in progress is the defence of protected species such as mountain Galliformes, but also the unloved: those species that are labelled as ‘likely to cause damage’ (ESOD in French).

… and humans

Guaranteeing safety for walkers and countryfolk in their entirety is also an essential consideration for the One Voice team (as it is for 89% of respondents to the survey who believe that hunting poses safety issues). Also, proceedings at the State Council have been initiated to ask the Prime Minister to do what is needed as quickly as possible. French people approve measures to ban or control hunting, specifically the implementation of an annual medical check with an eye test (93%), but also a ban on hunting for two days a week and during the school holidays (85%). Why not do this?

This survey allows us to objectify the population’s massive support for all of these fights.

Below, you can find the main lessons from the survey, and at the bottom of the page, the results in the form of a graph with a comparison of the results for previous measures for the issues concerned.

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The main lessons

• The percentage of French people declaring themselves in opposition of hunting has reached the highest ever seen (53%), which is an increase of five percent in one year. For the first time, the majority of people living in rural areas state that they are opposed to this practice.
• Specifically, hunting is always associated with several negative views, in particular when it comes to safety for walkers (89% believe that it poses safety problems).
• Despite this negative perception, French people continue to share certain arguments in favour of hunting and specifically the idea that it can have a useful role in controlling wildlife.
• Critical of hunting, French people approve measures to ban or control it, specifically the implementation of an annual medical check with an eye test (93%), but also a ban on hunting for two days a week and during the school holidays (85%).

The share of people opposing hunting reaches an unprecedented level

After a slight decrease in 2022, the share of French people stating that they oppose hunting has reached its highest level (53%, of which 25% say that they are completely opposed to hunting). This proportion is 5 percent higher in relation to 2022. We have also seen a decrease in the number of respondents stating that they are indifferent to this issue (22%, down by 4%). For the first time, this opposition to hunting has become a majority among those living in rural towns (51%, an increase of 3%).

The perception gap between men and women on the subject of hunting has reduced this year. Although there are still more women who state that they are opposed to this practice (60% versus 45% of men), this proportion has remained relatively stable (increased by 1%) while the men’s has significantly increased (up by 8%).

Specifically, hunting is still associated with negative views

Hunting is still perceived by the vast majority of respondents (89%, up by 2 percent) to pose safety issues for walkers during their strolls in nature, with 58% even being completely in agreement with this idea.

This safety issue was experienced in concrete terms by a large number of French people. 74% of them also stated that they were already concerned by the possible presence of hunters while they were walking in the forest, and 73% have already avoided walking in the forest or in certain areas for fear of a hunting accident. This concern is experienced even more strongly for those residing near a hunting area (respectively 81% and 80%, an increase in relation to 2022).

At the same time, hunting is not considered to be a hobby like any other (64% do not believe that this is the case) and seven in ten French people associate it as a cruel practice (an increase of 5% in one year).

This negative perception is often shared by women, but a clear majority of men also believe that hunting poses safety issues and deem it a cruel practice. On the other hand, we see few differences between those living in rural and urban towns.

Hunting also represents a risk for the environment. For 82% of French people, the amount of lead generated by hunters’ shots is a significant threat to nature, with 39% even believing that it is a very significant threat. Young people are shown to be the most sensitive on this subject: 89% of those under 35 years old believe that it is a significant threat, versus 75% of those over 60 years old.

However, some arguments in favour of hunting are still subject to approval by French people

Although French people have a negative perception of hunting, they still agree with some arguments in its favour. First of all, they believe that it can have a useful role. 66% believe that it allows animal populations to be managed, and 60% believe that it allows ‘damage’ caused by wildlife to be limited.

Those residing in rural areas have more of tendency to find a useful role in hunting: 72% of them believe that it allows animal populations to be managed (versus 64% of those living in urban areas) and 67% believe that it allows ‘damage’ caused by wildlife to be limited (versus 58%).

Beyond this useful aspect, hunting is associated with a rural way of life by 62% of French people, with no big difference between urban and rural people: 65% of those living in rural areas share this idea versus 61% of those living in urban areas.

Measures aimed at supervising hunting are still largely voted for

With the majority in agreement with critical arguments regarding hunting, French people approve measures aiming for a better control of the practice by a large majority. The majority of them state that they are favourable towards the implementation of each measure, and for most of those people, a majority even state that they are completely for it.

The measure that was most voted for is the establishment of an annual medical check visit, with an eye test, for a hunting licence (93% are for, of which 72% are completely for), ahead of a ban on penned hunting (92%, of which 79% are completely for), and a ban on hunting in protected areas (91%, of which 70% are completely for). Regarding these three elements, we note an increase in agreement (respectively up by 1%, 13%, and 3% in relation to 2022).

Another measure that sparks approval by the vast majority of French people is a ban on hunting or trapping for two days per week and during the entirety of the school holidays (85% are for this, an increase of 4%, of which 59% are completely for it).

A ban on hunting with horses and hounds is also supported by the vast majority of respondents (83%, of which 61% are completely for it), just like the ban on hunting animals in their burrows (84%, of which 57% are completely for this), or breeding animals that are destined to be released for hunting (78%, of which 54% are completely for this).

The ban on exemptions allowing lethal shots on wolves or scaring shots on bears was approved by the majority of respondents (70% and 64% respectively), but in these two cases only a minority of respondents stated that they were completely against it (43% and 37%).

Beyond these different measures, a vast majority of French people are in agreement with the principle of banning hunting in regions that have suffered from drought this summer (87% are in agreement, of which 53% state that they are completely in agreement). Although those living in rural areas are mainly for, they show that they are less favourable of this ban than those living in urban areas (81% versus 89%).

* The Ipsos survey was carried out from 4 to 6 October 2023 with 1000 people, comprising a national representative sample of the French population aged from 18 to 75 years old. The group was asked via the Internet using Ipsos’ Access Panel Online (quota method: sex, age, profession of the person being questioned, urban area category, region).

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Detailed results of the survey

Télécharger

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Traditional hunting: the government chooses to force their way through a hidden door

Traditional hunting: the government chooses to force their way through a hidden door
20.10.2023
Traditional hunting: the government chooses to force their way through a hidden door
Hunting

We thought they had been buried once and for all, but the government has got their shovel out to give them a second chance. Since 2018, dozens of legal decisions have proven us right and have meant the massacring of hundreds of thousands of birds could have been avoided. But the government will stop at nothing to please hunters. Disguised as ‘scientific experiments’ (that do nothing to advance science, only hunting), they decided to pave the way for the return of cages, nets, and decoys in our countryside. While lapwings, golden plovers, and even field larks already spend their lives avoiding being shot, we will do all we can to get these decrees cancelled and so that this cruel hunting remains a relic of a bygone past.

Updated 20 October 2023:

All of the prefectural decrees planned on traditional hunting experiments in 2023 were published, and all of One Voice’s emergency interim suspension proceedings were also sent to the corresponding administrative tribunals.
In addition to the hearing already planned and announced for 26 October in Châlons-en-Champagne, another has been added to the calendar and will take place in Bordeaux for Lot-et-Garonne on 27 October at 10am.

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Updated 24 October at 1:30pm:

New hearing dates! To say no to the return of traditional hunting and to protect larks from cruel and cynical experiments, we will be at the Bordeaux Administrative Tribunal on 27 October 2023 at 10am (for Lot-et-Garonne AND Gironde) and at the one in Pau on 2 November 2023 at 3:30pm (for the Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments).

Unbearable suffering for animals in the name of ‘tradition’

A hunter-trapper traps a small field lark that is struggling, hooking a small string around its leg or wing and shutting it into a cage before going into hiding. Then he pulls on the string. The pain makes the lark screech, it tries to escape but it is held fast by the trap. Hearing its cries, dozens of other larks – and other species – fly to its rescue. It is at that moment when the trap closes up: nets fall on both sides, trapping them all without distinction. The selected individuals are then killed one by one, methodically, and never mind if the others are injured in the process…

In the name of ‘tradition’, hunting with glue, cages, nets, or decoys was still authorised until recently. But that was without including our action (and that of the LPO, with whom we have fought alongside with the same perspective). Since 2021, One Voice has obtained a ruling by the European Union Court of Justice, followed by many rulings by the State Council, which have all proven us right: these types of hunting are quite simply against the ‘Birds’ Directive. Although glue hunting is nothing but a sad memory, the government is persisting and the legal battle continues for other types of hunting. In October 2022, the State Council urgently suspended the hunting of field larks with nets and cages in the south-west. We are awaiting the final ruling. And in May last year, they even insisted that the government revoke the 1989 decrees authorising the very principle of these hunts.

But the minister is clearly ready to do anything to please this lobby and does not hesitate to brush aside legal decisions from the highest of administrative authorities in the country to allow them to kill animals.

Hunters, these well-known ‘scientists’, are judge and jury!

To allow the killing of several thousand more birds, the government has, or will, launch an ‘experiment’ in five departments to show that these types of hunting are selective. And this even though, regarding net and cage hunting, the State Council has already settled the matter. And of course, these experiments will be led by… the departmental hunters’ federations. You are never served better than when it is by yourself, right! And they pride themselves on being great scientists too…

No need to be a specialist to clearly see that these experiments are only scientific in name. Led by hunters for hunters, this masquerade has a sole aim: to pave the way for the return of nets, decoys, and cages. In Ardennes, there are no less than 500 lapwings that will therefore be captured, and 15 golden plovers. In Lot-et-Garonne, 1000 field larks will end up in nets and cages. Three other departments (Gironde, Landes, and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques) are still to publish their decrees. We are planning to attack them too.

They will hide behind ‘science’, they will say that birds will not be killed, and they will allude to ‘tradition’. But no matter: we will always give these animals, and the 83% of French people who want these practices to disappear, (Ipsos/One Voice survey 2022) a voice against these barbaric types of hunting. We are attacking these decrees and will be at the Châlons-en-Champagne Administrative Tribunal on 26 October at 11:30am (for Ardennes)

Translated from the French by Joely Justice