Victory for the badgers: Press release
Their fate was sealed from the outset: 250 badgers were to be hunted with traps and dogs on and around all the farms in this French department, from 15 June to 14 September. Following a request by One Voice, ASPAS and AVES France, the courts ruled otherwise: on 16 July, the Administrative Court of Orléans suspended the order issued by the Prefect of Eure-et-Loir. The digging-out of badger burrows will cease immediately, and with it the planned slaughter of entire families in the middle of summer.
Underground hunting, or digging-out, is one of the most barbaric hunting practices imaginable: hours of terror deep within the burrow, cornered by dogs, before being dragged out with tongs and killed. In the height of summer, the young badgers also pay a price. Still dependent on their mothers until autumn, they are killed in the burrow — or left to starve to death once the adults have been slaughtered.
This is precisely what the courts have just reaffirmed: the law prohibits the killing of the young of huntable mammals, including those that have been weaned but cannot yet survive without their mothers. Following cases in the Aisne, Haute-Marne, Cher and Ille-et-Vilaine, this marks another victory for the three organisations, represented by the law firm Géo-Avocats. One department after another, the courts are ruling against the prefects who sacrifice badgers for the sake of a pastime.
And the fight continues. On 21 July, the organisations were back in the court in Orléans challenging an order scheduling the digging-out of badgers in the Indre-et-Loire for the next three years, starting on 15 May; then in Rennes, challenging the hunts at the authorities’ initiative targeting badgers in the Finistère. On 28 July, we will appear in court again in Rennes on behalf of the badgers of the Morbihan, which are under threat throughout the summer.
Opposed to hunting in all its forms, One Voice insists: nothing justifies subjecting a peaceful and vulnerable species to hours of torment. The organisation will fight until the practice of digging out badgers is permanently banned.
Victory for the badgers: Press release
Victory in the Eure-et-Loir: 250 badgers spared from being dug out