At the sight of their black plumage and their white irises, Breton farmers see red.
For several years, jackdaw has caused extensive damage to seedlings.
They particularly like the region, where food reserves are plentiful.
Despite their status as a protected species, these birds of the crows and crows family are today in the crosshairs of the prefectural authorities, which are increasing the number of orders authorizing destruction measures.
While the number of samples was only a few hundred in the early 2010s, they have climbed to several thousand lately. Much too much to the taste of the environmental associations which attacked this Thursday at the administrative court of Rennes the decree of destruction of 8000 jackdaws taken by the prefecture of Côtes-d'Armor. "The exemptions are taken without any scientific basis", denounces Olivier Retail, director of LPO Bretagne.
"The damage is constantly increasing, even though we continue to authorize the shootings", explains Romain Ecorchard, the lawyer of Bretagne Vivante who questions the effectiveness of the policy of destruction.
Both recommend waiting for the conclusions of the study carried out on jackdaws by researchers from the University of Rennes 1 and the National Museum of Natural History, which should be unveiled at the beginning of the year.
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On the side of the farmers, the fed up is real.
“There was between 700,000 and 800,000 euros of damage in the department last year, underlines Jean-Jacques René, elected to the chamber of agriculture of Côtes-d'Armor.
Some farmers have to resow three times.
They get up at night to keep the jackdaws away.
We have the impression of being in the movie
The Birds
of Hitchcock.
The public rapporteur, supposed to give the point of view of the law, recommended the cancellation of the decree of the prefect of Côtes-d'Armor.
The deliberation will be delivered in a few weeks.