Stella, the wolfdog threatened with death in France, could live safely in Italy

Stella, the wolfdog threatened with death in France, could live safely in Italy
05.11.2023
Italy
Stella, the wolfdog threatened with death in France, could live safely in Italy
Wildlife

At the beginning of May 2023, we received a concerning report: a wolfdog found herself in a pound and was at risk of being euthanised if no solution was found. After the initial misunderstandings, we put a chain of solidarity in place in order to find a placement solution. On 3 June, Stella arrived at our Animanatura sanctuary in Italy. Thus begins a new life, sheltered from all danger.

On 2 May 2023, we were contacted by a wildlife specialist. A pound asked her to take charge of a hybrid wolf, dependent on specific legislation. Due to lack of space, she cannot take the animal, named Stella, in, and has already contacted a number of approved establishments, which do not have the possibility – or the desire in some cases – to participate in this rescue.

In France, problems are regulated with lethal injections

In the pound since March and with no opportunity for placement, time was running out for Stella who was at risk of being slaughtered if a solution was not found quickly.

Faced with the urgency of the situation, we got ourselves organised and in less than twenty-four hours, a place was secured in our Animanatura Wild Sanctuary which already welcomed lions Céleste, Hannah, Marli, and Patty in May 2022 who we saved from the Cirque de Paris Circus three years ago.

A new life in Italy

Stella’s transfer was finally authorised by the authorities with some difficulty! After having taken her in and scheduled her vaccinations and neutering, issued her with a passport, organised transport, built a temporary welcome park in Italy, even though everything was ready, we thought that everything was going to be cancelled due to an internal disagreement within the administrations responsible for approving her departure, with some comparing Stella to a wolf or a hybrid, and others to a dog… This would have all been for nothing without our willpower and the determination of our local ally, who we thank warmly.

Stella was finally authorised to leave French soil on Friday 2 June in the morning. After a long journey, she arrived in Tuscany the next day. She is currently living in her transition park. Soon, she will find herself in a more spacious park that we are building for her, where she will spend the rest of her life in semi-freedom, cared for and protected from any dangers.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

Traditional hunting: thousands of birds will be trapped in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and in Landes

Traditional hunting: thousands of birds will be trapped in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and in Landes
03.11.2023
France
Traditional hunting: thousands of birds will be trapped in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and in Landes
Wildlife

The Pau Administrative Tribunal has just rejected our two pleas and those by the LPO. Even though the State Council already considered the use of these devices to be illegal, shameful experiments paving the way for the return of hunting field larks with cages and nets was therefore able to continue in Landes and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Hunters’ vociferations before the Tribunal, after the suspension of the first three decrees in Ardennes, Lot-et-Garonne, and Gironde, were heard. Pathetic!

Whatever the result of these experiments may be, the government takes it for granted: if they once again authorise hunting next year, we will be there, as we have always been since 2018, to ensure that the law is being followed and, above all, to protect birds from hunters, who impatiently wait to be able to capture and kill thousands of field larks with their bare hands once again.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

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

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

Traditional hunting in Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, and Ardennes: the legal system suspends shameful trials!

Traditional hunting in Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, and Ardennes: the legal system suspends shameful trials!
27.10.2023
France
Traditional hunting in Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, and Ardennes: the legal system suspends shameful trials!
Wildlife

We have just learnt that the Bordeaux and Châlons-en-Champagne Administrative Tribunals, which we referred to, have urgently suspended the decrees authorising the capture of thousands of birds using so-called ‘traditional’ methods in Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, and Ardennes – for the latter department, the LPO has also filed an emergency interim proceeding.

It is a huge victory for the 3000 field larks (2000 in Gironde and 1000 in Lot-et-Garonne), the 500 lapwings, and 15 golden plovers in Ardennes who will not be trapped in hunters’ nets and cages! Under the cover of ‘scientific research’ the government was looking to revive traditional hunting in any way possible, despite overwhelming repeated victories at the State Council since 2018, with the support of the European Court of Justice who had criticised France.

Thanks to these decisions, we can hope more than ever that these types of cruel hunting will soon be nothing but a distant memory.

The Ministry for the Ecological Transition would be well advised to no longer try to revive these hunting methods. Instead of giving special favours to obtain a few votes or sending out scratch cards to save ‘wildlife’, they should be worrying about truly protecting the animals that live in our country.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

One Voice is bringing a civil case to the tribunal against a bird poacher in Montauban

One Voice is bringing a civil case to the tribunal against a bird poacher in Montauban
25.10.2023
Tarn-et-Garonne One Voice is bringing a civil case to the tribunal against a bird poacher in Montauban
Wildlife

On 26 October at 9am, we will be at the Montauban legal tribunal for the blue tits, great tits, goldfinches, and blackcaps who are victims of a poacher that lives in the south of Tarn-et-Garonne. The man, not content with capturing and killing protected birds, resorted to illegal traditional hunting methods. We will be there once again against these cruel practices and for all the animals who continue to be a target of them.

It was a macabre spectacle that the agents from the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB) discovered during their search of this poacher’s home in Tarn-et-Garonne. There they found that seven goldfinches were being kept prisoner to attract other birds with their song, while twenty-three individuals from other protected species were found lifeless in traps. Their capture is performed in the trapper’s garden, where the victims, who cannot resist the calls of one of their own, have had the misfortune to land, only to find themselves trapped in nets or stuck to perches covered in glue. The distress and agony that these tits and blackcaps have to endure before they take their last breath is unimaginable.

Faced with a resurgence in traditional hunting, we are keeping the pressure on

As well as having been killed while belonging to a protected species, these birds have been killed using methods that are themselves prohibited. Have we forgotten that glue hunting was ruled illegal by the State Council in 2021, following a decision made by none other than the European Court of Justice? And that the French institution once again proved us right a few months later by suspending and cancelling ministerial decrees relating to traditional hunting several times following this, after the government’s stubbornness in relation to persecuting birds?

Obviously caring as little about justice as they do about animals, those killing these little birds stubbornly go out of their way to continue to use these methods again. To the point where the government has given them the gift of ‘experimentation’, intended to show that the use of cages, nets, and decoys would be well and truly selective, which would justify these killings happening again in their eyes.

Zero tolerance for poachers

We will not let either the attempts to revive traditional hunting or the slightest complacency regarding poachers lie. In September 2022, we already succeeded in getting a man who had killed and sold thousands of robins sentenced with a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €25,000 fine. In February 2023, a repeat offender had to defend their actions in front of the courts.

As a civil party in the trial, we will once again give a voice to all of the birds that were killed and will ask for the highest possible penalty for this massacre at the Montauban legal tribunal on Thursday 26 October.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice

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

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).

 

Detailed results of the survey

Télécharger

Translated from the French by Joely Justice