As might be expected, after the public consultation deadline, the Ministry of Ecological Transition signed eight new decrees authorizing the resumption of traditional hunts to capture certain birds, as of this weekend, for the 2021-2022 campaign. .
They were published this Friday morning in the Official Journal. They allow the resumption of ancestral captures of five species of birds in five departments for a total quota of 113,530 individuals. This primarily concerns the hunting of skylarks by means of pantes (double horizontal net) or matoles (small cages) in the Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and in the Landes. In the latter department, "
the maximum number of skylarks that can be captured using skylights is set at 56,672 for the 2021-2022 campaign using skylights and 4,928 skylarks using matoles"
, stipulates the text published in the OJ. In all 100,000 skylarks can be trapped.
Hunters are also authorized in the Ardennes to catch crested lapwings or golden plovers using tenderies (trap made with horsehair and a twig) as well as blackbirds or thrushes.
For these two species
“the maximum number that can be caught in the Ardennes department is set at 5,800”
.
Deemed illegal by the Council of State
However, this type of hunting was deemed illegal by the Council of State on August 6, with regard to European law and the
"birds"
directive
of 2009. It prohibits
"mass capture techniques of birds without distinction of species ”
. Seized by the bird protection league (LPO) and the animal defense association One Voice, which put forward this directive, the wise men of the royal palace had agreed with these two associations. They considered that a derogation from the European texts was possible, but "
on condition of being duly justified and since there is no other satisfactory solution to capture certain birds.
".
This was not the case for the first version of the ministerial decrees authorizing these traditional hunts.
Read also The hunters in the street this Saturday, despite the gesture of appeasement of the Elysee
What to create the ire of hunters.
They had demonstrated in numbers (42,000 people according to the police) in five places in France including Mont-de-Marsan and Amiens on Saturday September 18 to
"defend tradition and rurality"
and put pressure on the public authorities .
The government had heard them. He had undertaken to review his copy and to publish other more reasoned decrees with regard to European law following the request of the Council of State. It is now done. Something to delight the main stakeholders.
"The National Federation of Hunters can only welcome the very substantiated content of these decrees,
" said Willy Schraen, president of the FNC.
This result is the fruit of a studious collaboration with the services of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
The hunters concerned, (…) will be able to take advantage of this first weekend heralding migration.
We must objectively welcome the strong gesture of the Government following the unambiguous arbitration of the President of the Republic in favor of traditional hunts (...) which take infinitesimal quantities of birds without any impact on the preservation of species and on biodiversity ”
.
New referral from animal rights associations
On the other hand, animal defense associations including the LPO (Bird Protection League) and One Voice are very unhappy. They will again file a summary before the Council of State as they had done just before the summer, during the publication of the first version of the decrees of the Ministry of Ecological Transition authorizing these traditional hunts.
“These new orders are still illegal because they do not respect European law
, denounces Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, president of the LPO.
In addition, the traditional argument defended by the hunters does not hold water.
In the name of this one could have maintained the prohibition of the women to vote or to have a checkbook.
Evolution makes it possible to elevate ethics.
Moreover, this type of hunting is a hobby, not a vital necessity to remedy a food shortage ”
.
As for the form,
"the government has not been elegant, it publishes these decrees just before the weekend, which will allow hunters to resume this leisure at their ease because it is unlikely that the Council of State decides on our summary within 48 hours.
As for the substance, I think he will prove us right ”
.
A legal battle which is therefore likely to be long.