Justice will examine Wednesday in Rouen an appeal against a prefectural decree providing for the elimination of 1,430 foxes by 2021 in Seine-Maritime, according to the prefecture. The hearing before the administrative court of Rouen is scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m., according to corroborating sources.
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For the Prefect of Seine-Maritime, this decree of July 20 responds to "the need to regulate fox populations throughout the department in order to limit the depreciation made by these animals on small game and more particularly on small game. partridge ”. The prefecture is based "in particular " on a " file made up by the departmental federation of hunters ".
The State notes " a significant increase in the fox population in this department: thus, the kilometric index of abundance (method of counting fauna, editor's note) has gone from 0.58 to 0.67 between 2019 and today 'hui ,' the prefecture told AFP.
" Necessity "
The decree then mentions the " need " to limit " the risk of spreading diseases transmissible to humans and carried by foxes (alveolar echinococcosis and sarcoptic mange) as well as " the need to protect poultry farms ". Only 15 "lieutenants of louveterie" designated by the decree are authorized to carry out this elimination by night shooting "within the limit of 1430 foxes", or " of the order of 15% of the annual departmental samples noted " according to the prefecture.
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On July 28, Jean-Michel Bérégovoy (EELV), second assistant to the PS mayor of Rouen, denounced a “ shameful ” decision . “ The fox has its place in our ecosystem and plays a role in its balance, ” he argued in a press release. The animal defense association One Voice at the origin of the appeal, contests the counting methods of the prefecture, the impact of destruction campaigns on the risks of disease transmission to humans and on poultry farms.
2,468 people against this draft decree
During a public consultation organized from May 29 to June 19, 2,468 people spoke out against this draft decree, 832 in favor, according to the prefecture. Asked by AFP, One Voice assured to have, in 2018, obtained from justice the annulment in summary proceedings of two similar decrees one concerning the Eure and the other the Meurthe and Moselle.
For its part, France Nature environnement (FNE) Normandie in a separate press release " condemned this decree which, even if the level of fox harvesting by the lieutenants of the wolf hunter is low, is ecologically aberrant " . " The fox, a super predator, plays a major role in ecosystems, particularly in regulating the populations of small rodents ", according to the association.
