Traditional hunting: all the ‘experiments’ in 2023 were illegal
A few weeks ago, One Voice, together with LPO, obtained an emergency suspension of new authorisations to kill nearly 100,000 skylarks in the regions of Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne and Pyrénées-Atlantiques. These authorisations were based on the results of ‘scientific’ pseudo-experiments conducted… by the hunters themselves in 2023, which we had immediately challenged in court. Today, the Administrative Court in Bordeaux has ruled in our favour, following the courts in Châlons-en-Champagne and Pau, confirming the complete illegality of these desperate attempts to revive archaic practices in the name of ‘science’. But this victory heralds a new battle, as the Ministry now wishes to amend the European texts on the protection of birds. Join us in writing to the Ministry to say no to this unacceptable project!
For years, thousands of skylarks, lapwings and golden plovers were captured each autumn using devices each one more cruel than the other, before being collected and killed by hand by thrill-seeking hunters. We have fought tirelessly, from the administrative courts to the State Council and the Court of Justice of the European Union, and we have won every time.
Ardennes, Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne and Pyrénées-Atlantiques: these shameful experiments were illegal everywhere
Despite our victories, successive governments have shamelessly provided unwavering support to hunters to allow them to continue slaughtering these birds who have a poor conservation status. In 2023, they even attempted to reauthorise net capture in five regions under the guise of scientific pseudo-experiments entrusted to the hunters themselves. The aim? To once again circumvent court decisions.
The ruling handed down on 6 November by the Administrative Court in Bordeaux echoes those of judges in Pau and Châlons-en-Champagne: all these experiments were illegal. Hunters wanting to pass themselves off as impartial scientists? The court put them in their place, stating that ‘there is no evidence to suggest that such a programme would be entrusted to a research organisation’. They loudly proclaimed that we didn’t understand anything. Today, the courts have ruled: these captures should never have taken place.
Stop the persecution: hunters, ministers, respect the law and leave the birds in peace!
What will the State do now? Try once again to authorise illegal ‘experiments’? Introduce new ‘quotas’, like the ones for which we managed to obtain an emergency suspension before the State Council in September 2025? If they try, they will always find us standing in their way.
But a new option seems to be emerging: the minister has already indicated that he wants to go even further and is considering requesting an amendment to the European legislation on the protection of birds. This would be a historic step backwards and could pave the way for the return of glue hunting, which we thought had been buried for good, and it would be opposed by 83% of the French population.
The lives of birds are worth more than these tricks and this constant contempt for animals. Today, we are writing to the minister to express our opposition to any amendment to the European legislation, and we invite you to do the same. The hunters must finally accept that they have lost, and leave the birds in peace!