Birders say draft decrees issued by Emmanuel Macron to kill thousands of birds in France done to elicit hunting lobbies’ support ahead of elections in 2022
At least 110,000 wild birds may be hunted down in France if a recent proposal by President Emmanuel Macron becomes official policy.
Drafts of Macron’s decree issued September 16, 2021, are available on the French Ministry of Ministry of Ecological Transition’s website for public consultation and discussion till October 6.
Macron’s decrees call for the killing of birds whose numbers are already declining and that too with methods that have been declared as illegal.
The French Council of State, the highest court in France for issues and cases involving public administration, had declared the use of ‘traditional’ methods to trap birds as ‘illegal’ August 6 this year.
President Macron has re-authorised the mass killing of over 110,000 wild birds including Skylarks, Lapwings, Golden Plovers and thrushes #wildlifecrime https://t.co/kCeetYwH4I
— RareBirdAlertUK (@RareBirdAlertUK) September 23, 2021
Some 106,500 Eurasian Skylarks can be killed with horizontal nets and drop cages in four départments of southwest France — Landes, Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne and Pyrénées-Atlantiques if the decrees become law.
This, even though the species is in continuous decline in France and in Europe, according to conservationists.
There are also orders to kill 1,200 Northern Lapwings, which is a near-threatened species in France, 30 Eurasian Golden Plovers, 5,800 Song Thrushes and Eurasian Blackbirds.
All these will be killed using flap nets or slipknots.
The president’s decrees were issued days after he had hosted the World Conservation Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Macron had promised to bring the challenges of biodiversity protection up to the level of the battle against climate change at the IUCN event, according to conservationists.
The issue has generated a lot of debate in French society. In early September, hunters across France took out rallies to protest against the erosion of ‘the rural way of life in France’ after the courts banned traditional hunting practices.
On the other hand, the decrees are being described as pandering to hunting lobbies by the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO). The support of hunting lobbies in France would be crucial for Macron as he seeks re-election in the French presidential election next year.
The LPO is a partner of BirdLife International, a global partnership of non-governmental organisations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats.
The decision by the French Council of State had aroused the anger of several members of the French Parliament, according to BirdLife International and LPO.
These members had spoken in support of such traditional methods of trapping birds and had urged the issuance of new decrees to allow hunters to continue trapping.
Orders or decrees passed passed by the president must be ratified by the French Parliament before they can be modified into legislative acts.
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The development has drawn the ire of bird conservationists:
Politicians must be consistent in their environmental agenda. You mustn't be able to call for strong action to tackle the nature crisis one day & with the next breath propose trapping >110K wild birds. We stand with our partner @LPOFrance in condemnation https://t.co/k1V9OMd9qB
— Martin Harper (@martinBirdLife) September 19, 2021
Conservationists have urged citizens to take part in the online consultations with the Ministry of Ecological Transition in order to oppose them.
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The Eurasian Skylark, one of the bird species that will be culled under the proposed draft decrees issued by President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: istock.png)
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