Several thousand tenrecs killed in Réunion: yet hunting was illegal!
The Saint-Denis Administrative Tribunal has given their ruling: tenrecs were killed illegally during the 22-23 hunting season.
We have condemned the illegality of the decree from the Réunion Prefect authorising the hunting of thousands of small rodents from January 2022. Unfortunately, the tribunal rejected our plea considering that there was no urgency to suspend the massacre of these small unfamiliar animals in France. On 29 December 2023, so almost 2 years later, the court has just ruled the case on its merits: thousands of individuals were slaughtered completely illegally. Although this decision unfortunately does not change anything for the tenrecs already killed, it paves the way for new legal action to save these animals used as targets by hunters.
Tenrecs: the other victims of digging out
We know about underground hunting with hounds for badgers and foxes, but other species are targeted by this cruel practice: in Réunion, tenrecs are also victims of it. Each year, almost 100,000 of them are killed after hours of being hunted down. Nothing is spared for these small animals that are already poached all year round.
Their suffering is little known, much like the ecology of this unique species. Although they bear a resemblance to hedgehogs, particularly because of their quills, there is no link between the two species. Besides, we do not know much about these animals, except that they only aspire to live peacefully without the risk of seeing hunters or poachers destroy their families and their habitats at any given moment.
Both in form and in substance, this is a doubly illegal situation
After our rallying against underground badger hunting with hounds, which allowed us to obtain a suspension on this practice in more than thirty departments and to confirm a complete ban on killing the cubs, this reasoning is echoed by the Réunion judge. He confirmed what we have been stating for years: digging out carried out by hunters and sending dogs down into setts will inevitably lead to entire families being decimated, including their young.
Finally, the ruling accused the prefect of having opened the hunting period without previously having submitted any information on the tenrec population, and this despite the fact that it is in decline and is the subject of few scientific studies. Why bother with such formalities when the only objective is to please hunters?
According to the draft decree relating to the opening of the hunting period in Réunion, the prefect once again has to authorise the hunting of small mammals. If this is confirmed, we will of course be there to give these animals, massacred in their many thousands each year, a voice at the emergency interim proceeding if necessary.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice