Is Pest Hunting the Solution?

The fox, the crow and the raven, the weasel, the black-footed ferret, the chatty magpie, the jay of the oaks ... Listed on the list of ten species likely to cause damage, these animals are "destroyed" each year by hundreds of thousands in France. They are accused of disrupting agricultural and forestry activities, damaging the flora and fauna or transporting diseases that are potentially dangerous for humans. But is their elimination really the solution to these problems?

This is the question posed by a researcher from the National Museum of Natural History, after having examined during the confinement the scientific literature on pest regulation strategies. "The rare studies carried out in Europe (you can count them on the fingers of one hand) have very surprising results, often contrary to popular belief," says Frédéric Jiguet, who signs an opinion article in the journal Biological Conservation . "On the one hand, regulation does not reduce the

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