No to illegal hunts in the Corrèze region! Let’s save the wolves, victims of criminal calls for poaching

No to illegal hunts in the Corrèze region! Let’s save the wolves, victims of criminal calls for poaching
30.09.2025
Corrèze, France
No to illegal hunts in the Corrèze region! Let’s save the wolves, victims of criminal calls for poaching
Wildlife

The Corrèze FDSEA (Departmental Federation of Farmers’ Unions) is calling for a “wolf hunt” to be organized on October 1 near the Millevaches plateau. This incitement to poaching is a frontal and totally illegal attack on a protected species. With their cubs just born, Milo and Mina are once again at risk of being hunted down by agricultural unions. They have the support of hunters who are rubbing their hands with glee and lobbying for the species to be made huntable. With wolves under constant attack, we will not let this pass: we are urgently alerting the authorities and will not hesitate to file a complaint.

An illegal “hunt”: a clear incitement to poaching

The FDSEA Corrèze and several other organizations have publicly announced that a “wolf hunt” will take place in the Corrèze region on Wednesday, October 1. This is a serious provocation and a direct violation of the law: wolves are a protected species, and killing them is a severely punishable offense.

This strategy is nothing new. At the beginning of the year, we had the Coordination Rurale 87 convicted for similar calls. Each time, the same agricultural lobbies attempt to trivialize the illegal killing of wolves and circumvent the law. These repeated maneuvers demonstrate a relentless desire to remove legal protections for the species and rule out any progress toward the only viable solution: coexistence.

Their goal: to make wolves huntable

Despite massive public mobilization, wolves are no longer “strictly protected” but simply “protected”. The French government is even considering allowing farmers to kill them on simple declaration, without any controls. We invite you to participate in the public consultation on the draft decree that lays the groundwork for this dramatic change. In this climate of hostility, hunters are lobbying behind the scenes to make wolves huntable without any restrictions. 

The authors of this call for poaching despise animals and living creatures, and their sole objective is to defend a dying system that is keeping them artificially alive by infusions of public money” Muriel Arnal President of One Voice

We refuse to accept this relentless persecution. We are writing to the prefect and the French Office for Biodiversity to demand that they immediately ban this illegal “hunt” by the FDSEA. If it takes place despite everything, we will take legal action. Wolves are not targets: they must be defended with strength and determination.

Traditional hunting: the Council of State suspends new authorisations, saving 100,000 larks

Traditional hunting: the Council of State suspends new authorisations, saving 100,000 larks
24.09.2025
France
Traditional hunting: the Council of State suspends new authorisations, saving 100,000 larks
Wildlife

Once again, the government has attempted to authorise traditional lark hunting in the south-west of France, bowing to the constant pressure from the hunting lobby. And once again, the courts have upheld the law by suspending these decrees just a few days before the start of the hunting season. Thanks to requests made by One Voice and the LPO, nearly 100,000 skylarks have escaped this planned massacre. This is a victory for the law, but above all for these animals who are victims of archaic traditions.

Once again, the message is clear: traditional hunting is unacceptable!

It is a battle that is being repeated year after year, despite our victories and despite the opposition of the French people, and one that we will continue to fight relentlessly so that skylarks are no longer captured in nets by the tens of thousands before being killed by hand.

This is gratuitous cruelty, passed down from another age, with nothing to justify it, especially at a time when their populations are plummeting everywhere.

For years, the courts, following cases brought by One Voice and the LPO, have been revoking these authorisations, whether they be attempts at “experiments” or orders setting quotas for catches using nets, glue or stone-crush traps.

But a few weeks ago, the government, always ready to bestow gifts upon the hunters, authorised them to kill nearly 100,000 larks in the autumn of 2025. Once again, the Council of State said stop.

If it perseveres, the government will always find us standing in its way

By persisting in reintroducing these practices, the government is trampling on animal life, court decisions and the public interest. It is time to put an end to this pointless, costly and undignified standoff, given that 83% of French people are opposed to these methods (Ipsos/One Voice, October 2022).

Thanks to this victory, 100,000 lives will be spared this year. But we will remain vigilant. Because we know that without particularly strong public pressure, they will regroup and reattack. While our request against the capture of wood pigeons with nets is ongoing, we remain fully mobilised to speak out on behalf of all these birds slaughtered for the deadly pleasure of a small minority.

The government declares war on wolves

The government declares war on wolves
24.09.2025
France
The government declares war on wolves
Wildlife

A real shock. On September 23, 2025, the government announced its intention to make it even easier to shoot wolves. Currently, each shot must be authorized, which we can challenge in court. Tomorrow, farmers should be able to shoot… on simple declaration. This is a convenient solution that is not really a solution at all, blaming wolves for all the problems faced by farmers so as not to have to tackle the real issues, and simply buying a precarious social peace. But at what cost? We will continue to support the only approach that works, which remains completely ignored by the government and farmers: cohabitation.

From a “strictly protected” status to harassment by shooting

Despite citizen mobilization, the state remains deaf to the plight of wolves, which it continues to serve up to an intensive farming lobby that has only one goal: their outright extermination. A few months ago, European authorities lowered the species’ protection status from “strictly protected” to “protected”. The French government followed suit, inventing the absurd concept of “non-protectability” for certain herds to make shooting wolves even easier.

Today, another step has been taken. Shooting permits are still subject to strict conditions. These conditions are often ignored by the authorities, as confirmed by the courts, but they do exist. Tomorrow, farmers will only have to “declare” their shootings. Or when the state no longer even pretends to fulfill its duties. A bloodbath is planned. 

Stop the escalation: there is only one solution, coexistence

What will be the next step? We can already hear the hunters approaching and demanding that hunting of the species be opened, because they cannot stand the competition or the fact that wolves are natural predators of wild boars. As for the farmers, if their distress is real, where are their tears when they send hundreds of sheep to the slaughterhouse? Slaughtering wolves will not solve any problems. The escalation must stop. 

We stand ready and will challenge these deadly plans if they are implemented. Coexistence is possible, provided that the state provides the necessary resources and stops submitting to agricultural lobbies. Massive funding for protection measures: that is the only viable option!

Mountain galliformes: understanding them to better protect them

Mountain galliformes: understanding them to better protect them
23.09.2025
France
Mountain galliformes: understanding them to better protect them
Wildlife

Six species of galliformes still inhabit the summits of the French mountains. Extremely discreet and elusive, these birds are survivors from the Ice Age. Today, their ability to adapt is reaching its limits: forgotten by all, they are gradually dying out due to human pressure. We are fighting for them, before it is too late.

Cousins descended from the same ancient lineage, the Phasianidae, mountain galliformes have survived throughout the ages by braving the harsh cold and the test of time. They share common characteristics: a hardy biology, a round and stocky silhouette, short wings, sturdy legs made for walking or running rather than flying, and a camouflaged plumage that makes them almost invisible in their habitat. Yet each of the six species residing in our mountains also has its own distinct characteristics and its own unique way of approaching mountaineering. But regardless of their lifestyle and the altitude at which they live, all are now under threat.

Hazel grouse, ghosts of the damp forests

Altitude: 800 to 1600 m

Hazel grouse live in the quiet darkness of mixed forests. Virtually invisible, they never stray from their small territory, feeding on birch buds and hazel catkins. Like hushed shadows, they move silently and leave no trace. Unsuited to open landscapes, they particularly suffer from human activity and excessive logging.

 

Capercaillies, giants of clay

Altitude: 1,000 to 1,800 m

Massive and weighing up to four kilograms, capercaillies are the largest of the European galliformes. They depend on old, quiet, unfragmented forests. Every spring, they put on a striking display, folding their wings, puffing themselves up and snapping their beaks to impress their rivals. But their habitats are shrinking due to logging, human activity and global warming. They disappeared from the Alps in the 1990s. Only a few groups of individuals still survive in the Jura, Vosges and Pyrenees, besieged by roads, ski lifts and tourist activities.

 

Pyrenean grey partridges, resilient in the mountain pastures

Altitude: 1,200 to 2,200 m

With the transformation of the landscapes, they have only been able to survive in a few rare Pyrenean valleys where pastoral practices have remained gentle. Nesting at grass level, they depend on a mosaic of vegetation and non-intensive livestock farming to feed their young. But if pastoralism intensifies or disappears, the balance is upset: predators advance, shelters close up, eggs are trampled. They live in a narrow margin between too much neglect and too much pressure.

 

Black grouse, acrobats of the clearings

Altitude: 1200 to 2300 m

Every spring, between forests and mountain pastures, the males ritually parade in the clearings, puffing out their chests and spreading their lyre-shaped tails. In winter, they hide in the snow, digging an insulating burrow to conserve their energy. They are among the galliformes most threatened by human disturbance: cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiles, noise, etc. Every time they flee to escape humans, they have to draw on their limited reserves.

 

Rock partridges, acrobats of the dry heights

Altitude: 1,500 to 2,800 m

The emblematic birds of the southern Alps, these partridges climb high to live among the rocks and ridges. Their striped plumage makes them almost invisible.

They feed on seeds, insects and roots. Running rather than flying, they dart between rocks as soon as anyone approaches. Like other mountain galliformes, they are paying a high price for increasing human activity and the encroachment on their habitats.

 

Rock ptarmigans, hermits of the peaks

Altitude: above 2,000 metres, sometimes up to 3,000 metres

At altitudes above 2,000 metres, among scree and sparse heathland, rock ptarmigans (or snow partridges) play at camouflage. Changing with the seasons, their brown spotted plumage in summer turns pure white in winter. They nest under rocks and feed on very little: lichens, seeds and buds. Faithful to their territory, they brave storms, hiding in rock crevices or under the snow. They are built for wind, cold and hostile environments. But not for helicopters or ever higher ski runs. Furthermore, during the breeding season, pastoralism poses a major threat to the survival of the broods.

 

On borrowed time

These birds, whose distant ancestors learned to cope with the climatic and geographical changes in their environment, now find themselves defenceless against human encroachment. So much so that the six species in our country are on borrowed time. Black grouse, rock ptarmigan, hazel grouse, Pyrenean grey partridge, rock partridge… all are ‘near threatened’ according to the IUCN. As for the capercaillies, their situation is even more critical, with numbers in constant decline: they are classified as ‘vulnerable’. Global warming is changing the seasons. Forestry and pastoral practices are altering their habitats. Ski resorts are encroaching on their territory. Chairlift cables are injuring them. Every escape costs them precious calories.

 

And yet… we hunt them

Despite this critical situation, scandalous prefectural decrees set the number of individuals to be “harvested” each year. Only capercaillies are theoretically spared due to their conservation status and the action of associations that obtained a five-year suspension of their killing from the Council of State in 2022. We continue to fight to prevent the relentless persecution they are facing, and to raise awareness of these birds, whose rituals and ancient memories have been passed down to us. The mountains can still echo with their songs. Provided we give them back the right to live.