"Authorization to practice hunting is not necessary", it is, according to her, "a breach of equality between the French".
The OneVoice animal rights association sent an outraged missive to the Minister of Ecological Transition and the Secretary of State for Biodiversity on Tuesday to end the "privilege" granted to hunters for containment.
This letter, which we reveal, targets the circular sent this Saturday to all the prefects to maintain the hunt.
A text that ruffles the hair of many environmental NGOs.
“Walkers, hikers, photographers are not allowed to go into the forest (
Editor's note: more than 1 km from home
).
On the other hand, if it is to shoot living beings, we allow it.
It's amazing, ”gets carried away Madline Rubin, spokesperson for the Association for the protection of wild animals (Aspas).
Openly antichasse, she is working to take legal action against authorizations department by department.
On the change.org platform, a petition calls for an end to the “privileges” granted to hunters.
The Animalist Party proposes a model e-mail to send to its prefect so that he does not apply this circular.
The text signed by the Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Bérangère Abba, explains in substance that hunting is part of “activities of general interest”: 500,000 wild boars must be killed in particular to avoid the damage that these large animals can cause in the fields.
"We have a public service mission"
“We did not ask for anything, insists on his side Willy Schraen, the president of the National Federation of Hunters (FNC), very reassured.
But we have a public service mission that weighs like a sword of Damocles.
Each year, hunters must in fact pay millions of euros in compensation to farmers for losses due to the ravages of roe deer, deer or wild boar.
Last year, the wild pigs alone destroyed 20,000 ha of crops.
“The overwhelming majority of hunters are not keen on going out.
Many are over 65 and prefer to stay at home… ”swears their boss, who calculates that“ 1.2 million big game will have to be slaughtered before December 31 and as many by February ”.
No recreational hunting
There remains the question of taking out your gun within the limit of 1 km around your home and for 1 hour.
This is prohibited, recognized the FNC on Monday on its website, while three days earlier its president mentioned on Facebook the possibility of an "hour of hunting relaxation".
But within the various federations of hunters, the fight for recreational hunting is not over.
It is the ones that will show the muscles the most.
That of the Landes, one of the most important, demanded this Tuesday to maintain recreational hunting, trapping with nets ... Otherwise it would not regulate wild boars.
Blow of bluff, the hunters will in fact be requisitioned in the name of their mission of general interest.
Every year, wild boars cause damage in cultivated fields. / LP / Mathilde Kaczkowski
In Pas-de-Calais, department of Willy Schraen, the Federation asks to be able to hunt martens, martens, weasels, etc.
as "pests".
Why?
Because in addition to wild boars, the circular mentions deer and other “species liable to cause damage”.
According to Willy Schraen, “six or seven” are concerned: wild boar and deer, but also rabbits, hares, pheasants or pigeons depending on local realities.
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Animal rights NGOs are concerned about these exceptions.
Bérangère Abba said on Monday that apart from big game (wild boar, deer, roe deer), only cormorants could be shot "at a time when fish farms are very exposed, with the approach of the end of year celebrations" .
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In practice, it is therefore now up to the prefects to set the objectives and to enact the rules department by department.
Hunting by shooting or on the lookout will remain authorized.
On the other hand, hunting with hounds, explicitly mentioned in the circular, will not be authorized.
Nor the pre and post-beaten meals between hunters, before or after the outing.
“Compared to the first confinement, this time, the agents of the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) have the right to go out.
I hope they will prevent the worst acts of poaching, ”consoles Madline Rubin.
On the site of the French Hunter, we learn that the prefect of Doubs has already decided that no hunting will be authorized in the department during the period of confinement.