Senate hearing: Press release
During a Senate hearing, the Minister for Ecological Transition made a series of shocking announcements that are calling into question major advances in French and European law regarding animal protection. Circuses, hunting, the captivity of cetaceans: a series of announcements that mark a clear break with ecological commitments.
A meeting that has set the powder keg alight… At a hearing on Tuesday 7 April before the Senate’s Committee on Economic Affairs, Mathieu Lefèvre, Minister for Ecological Transition, made a series of declarations of intent that literally trample on French and European legislation, to serve the interests of lawless lobbies.
Wild animals are not about to be released from circuses. Wolves are set to be mercilessly decimated. The cruellest and most illegal hunts are being championed under the guise of the perpetual respect for traditions. As for the two orcas at Marineland, they are set to join the most abusive dolphinarium in Europe. A fine track record for this ministry, created in 2007 to ensure France’s ecological transition!
Our country will soon be singled out for its completely backward approach to issues that are subject to widespread public criticism, and not just in Paris as Mathieu Lefèvre suggests.
Worse still, the Ministry for Ecological Transition is acting in defiance of justice, our country’s laws and European regulations.
Circuses: a setback for the ban on touring with wild animals
The law of 2021 established that, from 1 December 2028, the use of wild animals in travelling circuses would be banned in France. To avoid offending a circus world that strikes fear, the Minister, flouting all procedures and regulations, now says he is ready to work on a new decree to relax enforcement and allow touring under certain conditions. Thus perpetuating the confinement in lorries and the miserable lives of wild animals, contrary to the practices of our neighbours. We will challenge this decree, which is as cynical as it is illegal, before the Council of State.
Traditional hunts: complacency towards cruel practices
Whilst the defence of traditional hunts is nothing new, Mathieu Lefèvre is prepared to appease a handful of hunters who are clinging to practices of extreme cruelty, specifically net hunting in South-Western France. This is the last traditional hunt still in operation, the others having been abolished thanks to our relentless campaigning before the Council of State and the European Court of Justice. Worse still, he is even prepared to undermine the Birds Directive that protects birds in Europe – such a fragile heritage for future generations.
Our appeal lodged on behalf of wood pigeons before the Council of State, and the European Commission’s intervention give us reason to hope once again that birds will be protected from a ministry which is, let us not forget, the Ministry of Ecology, not the Ministry of Leisure. Yes, the sadistic traditional bird hunts in our countryside are nothing more than that: the pastime of die-hards who are calling the shots in government departments. The same battle applies to hunting in enclosures and the fencing off of nature, which all political parties opposed following our revelations after a lengthy undercover investigation. The enforcement of the law against fencing off nature that followed will have to wait.
Wolves soon to be endangered once again
The minister claims that simplifying the culling regime is intended to protect livestock: he fails to mention that, unlike protective measures – whose effectiveness has long been established – killing wolves increases attacks. Science tells us so.
Contrary to what he would have us believe, parroting the hunters’ lies, the conservation status of wolves in France is not good: they are classified as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and their population has not reached the viability threshold of 2,500 wolves. With a culling rate of 23%, there is no doubt about the desire to wipe out a species that is useful and important to the country.
Marineland: the State shirks its responsibilities
The final blow comes with the Marineland case. The State is shirking its responsibility for the future of the two orcas still held in Nice, arguing that it is impossible to intervene with their owner, Parques Reunidos. Yet their transfer is subject to authorisation and requires an inter-country permit. It should be recalled that in November 2024 the French government opposed the transfer of the orcas to Japan. And in April 2025, Spain refused the transfer of Wikie and Keijo to Loro Parque, deeming the conditions at this dolphinarium in Tenerife to be too poor. Proof that governments have a say in the future of wild animals who are protected by international regulations. So why not admit that the government couldn’t care less about these iconic animals after leading us to believe the opposite for months?
One Voice condemns this frontal attack on wild animals. Our association will continue, as we are already doing, to challenge every decree before the Council of State.
Senate hearing: Press release
“Ecological transition”: when the Ministry sets animal welfare back a century