“How is it that we still encourage the trapping of these so-called “harmful” birds and mammals, in defiance of scientific data? »

AThen the Ministry of Ecological Transition prepares to renew the authorization to trap thousands of wild animals for three years, our ***ociations are asking that this trapping be no longer authorized for nine species on the basis of scientific knowledge.

What do the red foxesmagpies, jays, pine martens, martens, weasels, starlings, carrion crows and rooks? All these animals, naturally present in France for thousands of years, are still trapped there by all kinds of cruel means, with the blessing of the State, under a legal status as archaic as it is biologically unfounded. .

On the occasion of the preparation of the next ministerial decree 2023-2026 revising the list of these species called “likely to cause damage” (name which replaced that of “harmful”), we request that these native mammals and birds be removed from this category.

In addition to the highly questionable nature of this kind of cl***ification, there is a scientific consensus, In France And abroad, establishing that these species do not sufficiently meet the criteria supposed to define this category according to the environmental code. Cl***ified species “likely to cause damage” should indeed be “in the interest of public health and safety; to ensure the protection of fauna and flora; to prevent significant damage to agricultural, forestry and aquaculture activities or other forms of property”.

The hunting lobbies

Apart from certain damage to crops, presumed predation on farmed pheasants and partridges released for hunting, a few intrusions into poorly closed henhouses and other occasional and avoidable damage without resorting to systematic elimination, nothing argues in favor cl***ification of these species as pests.

Worse, this elimination harms ecosystems, even agriculture. THE foxes, weasels and weasels are, for example, allies of farmers, because they consume a large number of small rodents which feed themselves in the fields; by storing seeds in the soil, the jays of the oaks help in the regeneration of forests.

The establishment of the list of species “likely to cause damage” is the responsibility of the ministry in charge of ecology, which should, in order to do so, be based on objective elements. But the political stranglehold, influenced by the lobbies of hunting and agriculture, leads to unfounded decision-making, even going against biological knowledge and the general interest of the functioning of ecosystems.

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