Mountain Galliformes: more than a thousand birds spared from hunting

Mountain Galliformes: more than a thousand birds spared from hunting
06.11.2023
Mountain Galliformes: more than a thousand birds spared from hunting
Hunting

So that the birds at the mountain tops get some respite, we have made sure that hunters did not get any. Since the end of August, we have attacked numerous decisions made by prefects or directly by hunters’ federations with emergency interim proceedings. Their aim is to allow the killing of black grouse, rock partridges, hazel grouse, rock ptarmigans, and grey partridges in the Pyrénées. Judges have announced numerous suspensions, thus sparing the lives of a considerable number of mountain Galliformes.

In the Alps, more than a thousand birds will not be riddled with bullets

The Grenoble and Marseille Administrative Tribunals (ATs) have suspended hunting, sometimes based on our reasoning linked to the intolerable nature of hunting animals that are already shaken up by the consequences of global warming and the constant disruption linked with tourist numbers in mountain ranges, and sometimes on more technical arguments. More than once, prefects have simply given carte blanche to hunters and left them to determine the quotas of animals to be killed themselves.

The absurdity of continuing to kill individuals whose species is in a poor state of conservation also hits home when it comes to hazel grouse in Isère and before the Marseille judge whose rulings made it possible for black grouse and rock partridges to be spared in their masses.

Despite a few steps back, the fight continues

There are unfortunately several downsides when it comes to the Pyrénées and Alpes-Maritimes departments, where we clashed with the against-the-tide line of reasoning from the Montpellier, Toulouse, Pau, and Nice Administrative Tribunals, who rejected our requests. The disappointment is particularly bitter because, due to a lack of suspension, the bloodbath of partridges, grouse, and rock ptarmigans has in fact happened.

But we are not discouraged yet. Although the cancellations that we will obtain a posteriori will not bring the birds back to life, they will be used in future appeals to potentially spare the next ones. In fact, given the energy used by the State to pander to hunters’ every whim – as evidenced by a new decree just after the suspension of the previous one in the Pyrénées-Orientales, where questionable experiments were aimed at reviving the traditional hunting of larks, lapwings, etc. – there is no doubt that the massacring of mountain birds, even though they are threatened everywhere, will be authorised for the 2024-2025 season.

In total, the lives of 20 hazel grouse in Isère, 422 rock partridges (6 in Haute-Savoie, 219 in Savoie, 35 in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, and 162 in the Hautes-Alpes) and of 723 black grouse (201 in Haute-Savoie, 404 in Savoie, 45 in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, and 73 in the Hautes-Alpes) will be saved with our actions! How is it accepted that we, animal defenders, have to end up hindering the prefectures who authorise this themselves?

Our rallying helps to give these fragile animals visibility, silent witnesses to their own decline, and to protect them from guns. No bird or animal has to die at the hands of a small group of humans for their entertainment. We will continue to hammer this home until the State listens to reason.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

In May 2023, One Voice organised the rescue of Stella, a wolfdog who was at risk of being slaughtered in France.

In Vendée, a kennel for hunting with hounds has been keeping dozens of dogs illegally for several years.

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.