ANIMALS Pests, did you say pests? Several species are in the crosshairs of the French State, considered harmful for various reasons. Meet these unloved animals and very often victims of injustice.
A target of choice for hunters, the wild boar is considered “overpopulated” in certain regions of France, not hesitating to approach rural dwellings and enter cities. However, the reasons for this increase in the number of wild boars are quite disturbing since it is partly due to the fact that hunters feed these wild animals, a technique called “graining”. — MM.Wildlifephotos/Shutterstock
An animal species could previously be described as “harmful” under several conditions:
- a species not native to Europe, and therefore considered invasive. It is considered harmful throughout the French metropolitan territory and has been reported. introduced deliberately or accidentally.
- a species considered harmful in all metropolitan departments except Paris (75) and Corsica, which enjoys a special status because of its insularity. Methods of destroying these animals are also planned, such as traps or digging up.
The red fox is considered as a pest in almost all French departments. Long-suffering from a “chicken killer” and tending to multiply over the whole of the territory because it adapts to all walks of life, it attracts the wrath of breeders, but especially of hunters because it willingly attacks small game. – RT Images/Shutterstock
- a species likely to be classified as harmful by decree; annual prefectural. “Administrative destruction” and occasional hunting operations (night shots, cage traps, beatings…) can then be planned.
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Since 2019, these conditions have been replaced by the list, periods and methods of destruction of cash likely to cause damages. gâts.
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This sparrow is protected; in Belgium, but considered as a pest in France and Switzerland. In these two countries, in fact, the increase in forests (natural or through reforestation) causes a continuous increase in its population which could threaten other species. – Menno Schaefer/Shutterstock
Harmful to whom?
No animal is harmful on its own, since the notion of nuisance is necessarily relative. Generally, the law regards animals as pests when they threaten the human population or national ecosystems. To decide that a species is harmful, the Ministry of Ecology must base itself on one of the following grounds: the interest of health; and security protection of flora and fauna, prevention of significant damage to agricultural, forestry and aquaculture activities, and prevention of significant damage to other forms of ownership. It is obviously impossible to classify protected species as pests.
Damage to material property is the subject of much debate, with a large proportion of nature lovers believing that it is a non-issue and that commercial property should not be considered in terms of the environment. However, the consequences for animals that compete with local species pose a fairly clear problem, with the solutions advocated by the state not being unanimously accepted. however. The issue of native pest species is more delicate and much less consensual. It is indeed a question of quantifying the damage that animals in particular cause on others or on the flora, on a territory which is theirs, which is far from being obvious.
Associations attempt to protect animals classified as pests, such as ASPAS (Association for the Protection of Wild Animals) or Animal Cross. They protest against the systematic destruction of animals in complete legality, all year round and without quotas. Moreover, they recall that the notion of “harmful” is purely administrative and does not make sense from a biological point of view. À through awareness campaigns, petitions and sometimes rescue operations on the ground, they seek not only to protect these animals considered undesirable, but also to rehabilitate them with the French.
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The World of Animals & de la nature is a quarterly magazine. – The World of Animals n°42
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