A claim concerning an abuse of power and a suspension order were filed by One Voice against the Prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle. One Voice will be at the administrative court in Nancy on Wednesday November 28th at 11 am, alongside ASPAS, FLORE 54 and GEML.
90% of the people who took part in the public consultation are on the side of the foxes and their defenders. This almost unanimous opinion from the population is however despised by the Prefect of Meurthe-et-Moselle, who published on October 2nd 2018 an order authorising the "cull" - in other words the slaughter - of 500 red foxes, by shooting carried out at night, in the department by December 31st. What are his justifications? Fallacious arguments in support of the shootings whispered in his ears by the hunters.
The current status of these foxes, the all year-round relentless tracking and the Prefect's abuse of power
In the North and East of France, foxes are hunted even more than elsewhere. Relying on their status as a "species likely to cause damage" (previously "pests"), the Prefectures are constantly publishing orders to expand the range of possibilities to kill these small canines, yet even though they are useful to the biodiversity and having their rightful place in the ecosystem.
Foxes are considered game throughout the hunting season, whether with guns or with dogs. Because of this special status, they are trapped and dug up all year, including during the breeding season. Hunters can indulge in their "sport" 12 months a year.
The prefects take orders so that the game keepers of the Louvre, paid by the State, can shoot them even at night, all this to appease the peace of the hunters who want to be able to kill hares and partridges without any competition from foxes. But here, nothing proves the question against foxes.
Red foxes must be defended and protected!
What does it mean to kill more than half a million of them each year without even knowing their state of conservation?
It is irrational to attack an animal that protects us from Lyme disease through its presence, by naturally regulating the populations of voles that carry this disease. In the absence of red foxes, other forms of harm to nature and to health (including that of farmers) takes place: toxic pesticides spread into the crops in the fight against voles ... In a single act, that of protecting foxes who we respect and their ecosystem, we can save crops, we can protect against Lyme disease, we can regulate the population of small rodents and we evade a dose of dangerous pesticides into our daily diet !
One Voice will continue to sue the legitimacy of such orders, the damage of which is irreversible. It is urgent to take action. When this decree will be cancelled, like so many others before it in the East and the North of France, the countless foxes being massacred since its application will always be the case.
