Birds in danger: One Voice refers to the Council of State to suspend hunting

Birds in danger: One Voice refers to the Council of State to suspend hunting
02.09.2025
France
Birds in danger: One Voice refers to the Council of State to suspend hunting
Wildlife

While bird populations are collapsing in France, where they are bearing the brunt of climate change and intensified agriculture, the government has issued a decree authorizing the killing of hundreds of thousands of them, even though their species are endangered. In response to this irresponsible decision, we are today referring the matter to the Council of State and urgently requesting the suspension of hunting for nine particularly vulnerable species. More than ever, we continue to call for a complete ban on this unjustifiable leisure activity, especially at a time when biodiversity is collapsing. Hearing on September 19 at 11 a.m. at the Council of State.

Another setback in the face of hunting lobbies

Once again, the government has chosen to appease hunters rather than protect birds. The restrictions initially envisaged have been greatly watered down under pressure from hunting lobbies. As with traditional trapping, already condemned by the courts thanks to our actions, and turtle doves, for which hunting is set to be reopened after years of suspension, the executive has backed down, sacrificing tens of thousands of lives on the altar of the interests of a minority.

The decree claims to regulate the hunting of 15 species of migratory birds. In reality, the quotas set are absurd. Fifteen birds per day per hunter, with nearly a million permits, potentially represents nearly 15 million birds killed every day… This is yet another cosmetic measure that will provide no real protection for birds, who are the eternal victims of humans for whom nature is nothing more than a playground.

We demand that hunting be suspended!

In response to this irresponsible decision, we have made a request to the Council of State and urgently referred the matter to the urgent applications judge. We are calling for the immediate suspension of hunting for nine particularly endangered species: common quails, pintails, wigeons, shovelers, common pochards, tufted ducks, redwings, garganeys, and Eurasian teals.

Beyond this request, which will be heard on September 19 at 11 a.m. at the Council of State, we are once again calling for a complete ban on hunting, an unjustifiable pastime, especially in this era of the sixth mass extinction. Together, let’s make the birds’ voices heard: sign to demand an end to this deadly pastime!

The government is persecuting skylarks: we are once again referring to the Council of State

The government is persecuting skylarks: we are once again referring to the Council of State
02.09.2025
France
The government is persecuting skylarks: we are once again referring to the Council of State
Wildlife

Hunters using nets will be able to kill 100,000 skylarks in the coming months. Attracted by the desperate cries of other birds used as “decoys”, they will land on the ground. The nets will close violently around them. Once collected, they will either be kept for the next hunt or die one by one from a twisted neck. Despite dozens of court rulings condemning this method of capture in the context of this type of hunting in the Southwest and Grand Est regions, the State is sticking to its guns, showing contempt for animals and the (few) rules that are supposed to protect them. We are asking the Council of State to immediately suspend this decree, which once again contravenes the “Birds” directive. 

Tens of thousands of lives trampled on in the name of a “tradition”

Long an integral part of the French countryside, the song of the larks is gradually dying out. In just a few years, breeding populations have declined by 28 to 39%, and those that spend the winter in France by nearly 49%. Yet they continue to be hunted on a massive scale, including with archaic capture methods that cause unacceptable suffering.

For years, our legal actions against these outdated practices have been bearing fruit. Glue, stone traps, “pantes” (nets), and “matoles” (cages)… from the Court of Justice of the European Union to the Council of State, the courts have ruled in our favor, request after request. But in France, everything works as if the hunting lobby were more powerful than the justice system. And that is something we will never accept.

Hunters give the orders, the State obeys

In 2023, the government already attempted to reauthorize nets in five departments under the guise of a pseudo-“scientific experiment”,which fooled no one. In the Ardennes, the only department for which the courts have ruled to date, the decree was overturned and the captures were deemed illegal.

Today, the Ministry of Ecological Transition is going even further and openly defying both birds and judges. For the 2025-2026 season, it has just decided that 98,702 larks may be captured and killed in Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, and Pyrénées-Atlantiques—not counting those that will die from shotgun pellets.

For an immediate suspension of the massacres

A few days after making a request to end the hunting of wood pigeons with nets, we are asking the Council of State to immediately suspend the killings. Larks should not have to die to entertain a few thrill-seeking humans. They have the right to live, fly, and sing, and we will fight for them for as long as it takes.

Now that we have taken the matter to the Council of State, we need your support more than ever to fight this battle. If, like 83% of French people (Ipsos/One Voice survey, October 2022), you are opposed to these practices, please sign the petition, especially to put an end to the most cruel hunting practices!

After the flames, bullets? Calling for a ban on hunting in the Aude region

After the flames, bullets? Calling for a ban on hunting in the Aude region
02.09.2025
Aude
After the flames, bullets? Calling for a ban on hunting in the Aude region
Wildlife

The year 2025 was marked by record-breaking fires. In the Aude region, a woman lost her life. Thousands of hectares of vegetation were reduced to ashes. And how many animals, trapped by the flames, lost their lives? Yet, as if nothing had happened, hunting season is about to open in the region. One Voice is officially asking the prefect to take action by suspending hunting for the coming season.

Year after year, a veritable massacre

They are already bearing the brunt of the effects of heat waves, climate change, agriculture, and rampant urbanization. Now they must also face massive fires that recur year after year, such as those that ravaged the Aude region this summer. Birds, mammals, batrachians, insects… Disoriented by the smoke, they are unable to flee and suffer the unbearable assault of the fire.

Those that do not die will have no shelter in which to recover and heal their wounds. No more water or food, only dead tree trunks as far as the eye can see. Despite this heartbreaking situation, and while volunteers on site are trying to rescue them, hunters are preparing their guns, just a few days before the opening of the 2025-2026 season.

Sign to ban hunting in disaster areas!

We do not accept that bullets should follow flames. Nearly nine out of ten French people (87%) are in favor of banning this activity in forests affected by drought (Ipsos/One Voice survey, October 2023), a common-sense measure that is nevertheless opposed by the authorities, who are too busy defending the interests of trigger-happy people.

To demand an immediate halt to shooting and give the animals a little respite, we invite you to sign the petitions launched by Futur Asso and a committed citizen calling for a truce. And we are writing to the Prefect of the Aude region: Mr. Prefect: ban hunting this year!

Bird trapping with glue, illegal possession and release of wild animals… Two men brought to justice

Bird trapping with glue, illegal possession and release of wild animals… Two men brought to justice
01.09.2025
Var
Bird trapping with glue, illegal possession and release of wild animals… Two men brought to justice
Wildlife

In Carcès (Var), two men were questioned for possessing about twenty turtles and wild birds, some of which belonged to protected species, without any authorization. In addition to keeping these animals in captivity, several of which were seized in a worrying condition, they are accused of capturing them in the wild, in particular using glue traps, and of releasing individuals of invasive alien species. We hope for an exemplary verdict at the end of the hearing, which will be held at the Draguignan legal tribunal on September 4 at 8:45 a.m.

Just as others collect stamps, these residents of Carcès kept around twenty wild animals in their home. A complaint from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Bird Protection League (LPO) prompted the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB) to launch an investigation into what was going on in this house. The search carried out on site in November 2024 speaks for itself: no fewer than 22 Hermann’s tortoises, two Asian rose-ringed parakeets, a grosbeak, a European greenfinch, and a song thrush were seized. And they are not the only ones to have fallen into the hands of these individuals.

Abuse and irresponsibility

How did all these animals end up in their captivity? Although the defendants deny having captured any birds in the wild, explaining that they “found them […] on the ground, injured or in poor condition” and took them in to care for them, the findings of the investigation formally contradict their statements. Traces of glue were found on the birds’ feathers, an undeniable sign that they had struggled in birdlime, an extremely cruel hunting technique which, in addition to injuring its targets, is completely non-selective. One might also question the so-called care they were supposedly given, given their dire condition at the time of the search. One had wounds above its beak, a second had a locked up shoulder and a large bruise, and a third had all the quills on its right wing broken, among other injuries. This calls into question the qualities of their “caretakers”…

Did they also think they were doing the right thing by releasing rose-ringed parakeets and red-eared sliders, classified as invasive alien species, into the wild, which is strictly prohibited? What became of them, left to fend for themselves in an environment that was not their own and whose ecosystem they would inevitably disrupt?

These are sentient beings, not trophies or commodities!

For more than ten years, one of the defendants had been posting photos of himself on social media with a kite, squirrels, falcons, and many others. Once again, humans have messed around by subjugating wild animals on a whim, like Akilla‘s “owner”, and at the risk of their lives. While the birds and turtles locked up in Carcès over the years do not appear to have been victims of trafficking in addition to everything else, this is far from always being the case in these dark affairs. Wildlife trafficking is one of the most lucrative illegal trades, along with drugs and weapons. And it is the animals that pay the price. We will not tolerate them continuing to suffer this fate with impunity.

We will be present as a civil party at the hearing to be held at the Draguignan legal tribunal September 4 at 8:45 a.m. We expect the judges to defend all wild animals that have been illegally captured, transported, confined, and released.

A mass grave of ducks and teals in the Somme: One Voice files a complaint

A mass grave of ducks and teals in the Somme: One Voice files a complaint
27.08.2025
Somme
A mass grave of ducks and teals in the Somme: One Voice files a complaint
Animaux sauvages

Between 50 and 60 mutilated carcasses of mallards, shovelers, pintails and teals were discovered on 21 August 2025 near Péronne, in the Somme, a few hours after the opening of the hunting season. In response to this cruel and shocking act, One Voice is filing a complaint so that those responsible can be identified and punished. At a time when birds are being targeted from all sides by the government, and their songs are gradually dying out, now more than ever is the time for citizens to take action.

An unbearable massacre, and a complaint filed

Monday 21 August, 6pm, Péronne. In the middle of summer, a resident of this municipality in the Somme region discovered a pile of mutilated wild duck and teal carcasses, dismembered and piled up on the ground. According to the French Office for Biodiversity, they had just been shot. An unbearable cruelty. A total disregard for the lives of these water birds which are beginning their migration and are constantly being harassed by hunters along their route, particularly in wetlands and coastal areas throughout Europe. And yet another tragedy for ducks in this region where a few months ago we secured the conviction of a farmer for mistreatment.

The perpetrators? As always, everything suggests this to be a case of thrill-seeking hunters for whom the meagre rules protecting animals are already intolerable. The federations concerned are already starting to play the good hunter/bad hunter card. A ploy that no longer convinces anyone: whether in Sologne or in Vercors, poachers always have a valid licence.

Birds are under attack from all sides: join us in speaking out on their behalf!

As long as this leisure activity is supported by politicians who no longer hesitate to openly violate court decisions, such as the project to reauthorise so-called “traditional” hunts using traps, this type of massacre will continue. While France holds a sad European record with 65 species of birds eligible for hunting, the solution is simple: a complete ban on shooting.

But the government and hunters are digging in their heels: recently, the minister responsible for hunting dismissed recent scientific recommendations calling for a suspension of hunting of birds in decline. We therefore call on you more than ever to sign our petitions to call for a stop to the killing of birds and for a radical reform of hunting!

No to the culling of 80,000 great cormorants!

No to the culling of 80,000 great cormorants!
18.08.2025
No to the culling of 80,000 great cormorants!
Animaux sauvages

In order to “preserve” fish farming, the Minister for Ecological Transition is preparing to seal the fate of tens of thousands of great cormorants. Although the species is protected in France, 79,698 of them may be killed between 2025 and 2028. The aim of this measure is to protect the aquaculture industry, while the government supports the establishment of massive fish farms where tens of thousands of fish are crammed together. Make your voice heard in the public consultation on the draft decree, and say no to these ever-increasing exemptions: you only have until tomorrow to do so.

Iconic birds… harassed by gunfire

Great cormorants are instantly recognisable. With their black plumage tinged with white, they live peacefully near estuaries, lakes and waterways, building their nests on steep cliff faces or in trees near the coast. In France, these majestic birds are protected. They are bearing the brunt of pollution and warming waters. It is therefore strictly forbidden to disturb them… except with special permission.

A few months after facilitating the granting of these shooting permits, the Ministry, which is supposed to defend nature and its inhabitants, is preparing to define the official number of permits to kill cormorants for the next three years. The figures speak for themselves: 79,698 in France, with quotas of several thousand in some regions. The arguments put forward are, as always, absolute proof that the lives of animals have no value for the authorities who give in without resistance to pressure from the aquaculture lobby.

Accusing birds… to protect farming

To justify these upcoming massacres, the ministry accuses great cormorants of threatening wild fish… even though the National Council for Nature Conservation has debunked the myth of great cormorants as “fish exterminators” in its report!

The sole objective of this measure is to protect the aquaculture industry, while the number of farms where tens of thousands of individuals are crammed together is increasing, as in the case of the Aquafrais expansion project off the coast of Cannes which we recently investigated.

While we have been denouncing the relentless persecution of these large birds for years, the government remains stubborn. Join us in saying no to this draft decree, and make your voice heard for these targeted birds! Even if consultations carry little weight in the face of farming lobbies, the more opinions we gather to oppose the official texts, the more weight we will have in court when we counterattack!