Communiqué de presse

One Voice in Rouen against the hunting of red foxes in l’Eure, hearing scheduled for the 3rd April

Published on 01 April 2019 at 07h00
Mis à jour le 25 November 2019 at

Edit on 04/04/2019 at 11:30 am:
The decision of the administrative court of Rouen has just failed. We have won, the decree n ° 2019-013 of February 8th, 2019 has been SUSPENDED !

 One Voice and its partners, ASPAS and Groupe Mammalogique Normand, seek to suspend the l’Eure decree allowing night shooting by specialist hunters of the Louvreie on foxes throughout the department. This interim suspension is part of the appeal for the annulment of this prefectural order dated 8th February 2019 for excess of power. The hearing will take place at 9:30 am on April 3rd 2019 at the administrative court of Rouen.

Muriel Arnal, president and founder of One Voice, says:

« Foxes suffer from a bad reputation built up by hunters. How do they try to place the blame? Trying to exist? To try to survive in their natural environment, the few remaining natural areas that exist? They have their place in Nature that is not a playground for a handful gun- toting fans ! »

False pretexts for the development of a bloody past time

To be justified, these derogations must be exceptional and punctual. In addition, the Prefect must prove that damage done is attributable only to foxes. But in this eleven-month decree (so not punctual) that allows to shoot foxes to kill them at night, there is not even a limit to the number of individuals killed (therefore not exceptional) ! Moreover, the fallacious arguments of the Prefecture are once again being augmented by the associations of hunters who do everything to develop their leisure time. Yet, no proven agricultural damage, no evidence of fox involvement.

One Voice will defend the red foxes again and again. The association regrets that once again the services of the State are instrumental in this destruction. Under the pretext of "regulation", where here only private interests are protected.

Foxes help us

In truth, the existence of red foxes on the land is a great asset for farmers and for the entire population, because their diet allows both to avoid the spread of pesticides in the fields and to limit the progression of Lyme disease (for more details, refer to the 2017 report).

But hunters can already hunt them throughout the year. Is there really a need to add more? There are more than half a million of them being slaughtered each year. They are nevertheless an asset to the biodiversity and have their place in the ecosystems. Mankind cannot permanently consider all those who live in the same territory as us as pests to simply just annihilate them !

One Voice and the defence of red foxes

In recent months, the association One Voice has had the Prefectural decrees of Meurthe-et-Moselle and Moselle annulled, allowing to save hundreds of foxes. A first. In previous cases though, the orders were cancelled only once the foxes had been already dead.

One Voice calls for foxes to be removed from the list of species likely to cause damage (e.g., “harmful”). Concerning the suspension and annulment of the l’Eure decree, the hearing is scheduled at the administrative court of Rouen on 3rd April at 9.30 am. The One Voice lawyer will be representing the three associations against the Prefecture.

Share on