Just a few months after its reintroduction into the wild, a white-tailed eagle, a species of eagle with a two-meter wingspan, was shot dead in Isère in the Oisans massif at the end of February.
Two hunters who are also brothers, aged 30 and 35, admitted the facts and were placed in police custody this Wednesday, the Grenoble prosecutor's office told Le
Figaro
.
As also indicated by
France 3 Alpes
, an investigation began on February 24 after the discovery of the corpse of the animal, shot dead in the area of the sanctuary of Notre-Dame de La Salette.
The two brothers were quickly identified.
According to the investigation, they first illegally killed deer, subject like all animals to a strict harvesting plan, before one of the two hunters shot the eagle, leaving the remains on the spot after having collected feathers.
The remains of the bird found near the sanctuary of the sanctuary of Notre-Dame de La Salette.
Le Figaro
The two brothers will be tried on May 13, 2024 for unlawful destruction of a protected non-domestic species, an offense punishable by three years of imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros.
The defendants will also appear for deer poaching.
Pending their judgment, they are placed under judicial supervision and are prohibited from “carrying or possessing a weapon”, from going to the department's hunting zones or even from socializing with each other.
Also read: Endangered migratory birds hunted in France
The white-tailed eagle is a “
critically
endangered” raptor, according to the French Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
This imposing maritime raptor disappeared from the metropolis in the 1950s, however remaining in the east of Corsica.
In the following decade, it completely disappeared from the country.
The cause: hunting, pesticides, destruction of its habitat.
A female named Morzine
It was in 2011 that the white-tailed eagle made its comeback in Moselle, spontaneously, with a first breeding pair.
This was followed by two new couples, settled in Champagne and Brienne.
They were also recently reintroduced on the initiative of the Les Aigles du Léman animal park, located on the Haut-Savoie shores of the lake.
According to the regional antenna of
France 3
, the raptor shot down at the end of February was reintroduced in the summer of 2023 with nine other eagles.
It was a female, named Morzine, and equipped with a GPS beacon.
It had established itself in the mountainous department of Isère and fed on carcasses released by the melting snow.
“
Until she met two idiots who decided that her journey was going to end there,”
Jacques-Olivier Travers, founder of the Eagles of Léman, at the origin of the reintroduction program, regretted to regional television. .
“
I am outraged, this is unacceptable.
For me, they are not hunters, they are delinquents,”
reacted on
France Bleu
Danielle Chenavier, president of the Isère Hunting Federation.
In 2021, a poacher who hunted protected birds, particularly with glue, was sentenced to one year in prison in Toulon for “
destruction of a protected species
”, a sentence to which was added a 3-month suspended sentence.