Since February 1 and the end of the hunting season, fallow deer and deer can once again roam with peace of mind in the forests of Haut-Rhin.
But an official decree came to put an end to this tranquility: the Haut-Rhin prefecture ordered the organization of deer destruction shots until February 28.
Arousing the ire of environmental associations?
No, from hunters themselves.
Sanitary context, bad weather ... For the Haut-Rhin prefecture, the hunting season that started seven months ago has not produced satisfactory results.
According to the authorities, the rate of completion of the hunting plan is "exceptionally low" for deer and fallow deer, which would therefore continue to cause damage in the forest.
In a decree published on February 4, it therefore urges hunters to carry out "specific destruction hunting operations by day and night shooting with the lamp" of deer and fallow deer, until February 28. .
Problem, hunters do not want to bring out their rifles, stored since the beginning of the month.
Animals "exhausted" by a long period of hunting
In a press release, the Haut-Rhin Federation denounces "a real declaration of war on the hunters", who opposed this extension of the hunting season.
"Under the pretext that a few heads of deer and fallow deer are missing, the administration has seen fit to try to force hunters to hunt and destroy animals", gets angry with the Parisian Gilles Kaszuk, president of the Federation of Haut-Rhin hunters.
For him, nature must “rest”, just like animals, “exhausted by a long period of hunting and multiple disturbances”.
A message that denotes those regularly conveyed by hunters, especially in the face of environmental associations.
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“The management of a hunting estate is to regulate a population, to prevent there being too many animals and therefore to make a selection.
At one point, we feel that this is enough.
And there, it is the defender of fauna and flora who speaks: there is no other interest than the protection of the forest ”, promises Gilles Kaszuk, who also denounces the method of shooting recommended by the prefecture.
A "usurpation of ecology"
“Shooting deer and fallow deer at night using a lamp or an infrared system from the car cannot be an act of hunting.
The hunters respect nature and refuse to participate in the brutal destruction of large fauna by means used by poachers, ”he concludes.
So, a real cry of love for the deer or a communication operation?
If the information first relayed by France Bleu was recovered by some activists or relayed by Hugo Clément, Francis, volunteer, at Alsace Nature, a federation of Alsatian associations for the protection of the environment, does not want to be fooled. .
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“Densities of deer are destroying the forest.
And it was the hunters who introduced this imbalance, ”he says.
“Of the hundreds of species, they fix one or two that interest them, at the expense of all biodiversity and other species.
It's the usurpation of ecology, ”he assures us.
Contacted by the Parisian, the Haut-Rhin prefecture assured this Monday that a right of reply from the Departmental Directorate of Territories (DDT) was being developed.
