Ferrets and hunting with ferrets in France

In France the ferret has the status of domestic animal which is guaranteed to it by the order of August 11, 2006, issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, and as such anyone can own a ferret as a pet.

However the use of ferrets for hunting creature such as rabbits is regulated in law and can only be practiced during the periods specified by the Prefecture each year.

The followings departements also require an individual permit to be issued by the Prefecture.

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Ariège, Ardèche, Aude, Aveyron, Bouches-du-Rhône, Cantal, Charente, Corrèze, South Corsica, Côtes d'Armor, Creuse, Dordogne, Finistère, Gard, Haute Garonne, Haute-Corse, Hérault, Haute-Loire, Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Savoie, Haute-Vienne, Gers, Gironde, Landes, Lot, Lot et Garonne, Lozère, Morbihan, Puy de Dôme, Pyrénées-Atlantiques,, Pyrénées-Orientales, Tarn et Garonne, Var, Vaucluse.

It can be required to state the exact locality(s) where this is to take place and requires the permission of the landowner

Chris

Hunt or hunting days in France

There are always people asking what days are the hunting days in France and the simple answer is that there is no National law that prohibits hunting on any day of the week during the open hunting season although various Associations keep petitioning for Sundays to be hunt free.

Part of the confusion where it exists is that there isn’t simply one type of hunting or la chasse and that la chasse is often erroneously thought of as being uniquely chasse en battue that involves a minimum number of participants with some driving or flushing through an area using dogs pushing any animals, (boar, deer, fox), out into the open to where one or more hunters wait with guns. Usually this type of organised hunt takes place on two or three specific days of the week that are agreed at the commune level, (ours is Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays) and the people that participate in this like to call themselves La Chasse.  However rough shooting for smaller creatures, birds, rabbits, hares etc. can take place on any day of the week although in practice Wednesday afternoon is usually avoided due to being a half school day.

To be clear - La Chasse can be defined as using various means in order to capture and kill creatures either for eating or for destruction and no single group of hunters can claim this as belonging to them alone.

There was a brief period from July 2000 and July 2003 when hunting was banned on Wednesdays and this was instituted throughout France at the request of the Minister of the Environment, Dominique Voynet, through Article 24 of the hunting law 2000-698 of 26 July 2000, which stipulated: "Article L.224-2 of the Rural Code is worded as follows: ... The practice of shooting hunting is prohibited from Wednesday 6 am to Thursday 6 am".  However in 2003, the repeal of this "no-hunt Wednesday" was included in the bill on hunting put forward by Roselyne Bachelot then Minister of Ecology! It was then voted into law by the majority UMP-UC

The law of 2003-698 of July 30, 2003, by Article 27, thus cancelled this provision altogether (which had in the meantime been transposed to the rural code to that of the environment): "The last paragraph of the Article L. 424-2 of the Environmental Code is deleted."

Therefore only the Prefect of each Departement can order days without hunting in application of the article R.424-1 of the code of the environment but in practice this rarely occurs.

Other limits that are set each year at the Departemental level each year limiting or restricting the time periods and numbers of specific species will apply.

Chris

Hunting in France and the decline in species

What role, if any, does hunting play in the massive species population declines we are experiencing across the board in France?

Hunting is one of those subjects that invariably divides people into being either for or against with both sides of the argument frequently suffering from the blindness and anger that comes with entrenched attitudes but the question that needs to be asked is how much harm results from hunting relative to other perhaps more acceptable activities when it comes to the declines in wildlife that we are witnessing? 

Looked at objectively it soon becomes clear that although the practice of hunting may be abhorrent to many people it doesn’t really have any impact on the populations of deer and boar, (gros gibier or large game as they are known), which is the main form of hunting in France. Many birds are specifically bred to be hunted such as Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge & Mallard and as such don’t really count, (see link at the bottom). Where we have bird populations that are already in decline resulting from other causes then clearly hunting these species must be considered as an additional factor.   Skylarks, Turtle doves, Black-tailed godwit, Curlew and Woodcock are just a few obvious examples of this.

It’s also the case that some species are persecuted relentlessly throughout the year being seen as vermin and this is not without consequences. Hunting may play a role in this where some species are concerned with Foxes, (with perhaps a million killed a year), along with Badgers topping the list. Although not strictly hunting as such the trapping and poisoning of other mammals has both a direct impact on the species concerned and also on non-target species that fall victim to the traps or poisons used.  Owls, Black and Red Kites and Hedgehogs are all well known to suffer extensively from non-target poisoning along with smaller birds that die after eating poison grain that is spread around industrial, residential and farm buildings for rodents to eat. Pine Marten, Stone Marten and Polecats are trapped and killed as well as being poisoned which is significant when taken alongside other causes of population decline.

Collisions with vehicles are a major cause of mortality for a number of species of birds, mammals, insects, reptiles and amphibians. What this amounts to is hard to gauge but some of our more threatened "common" species such as Barn Owls and Hedgehogs will be seen regularly dead on the road or by the roadsides as well as snakes and amphibians at certain times of the year. 

Given the above all of which have some degree of importance the greatest overriding cause of population decline for the majority of species is loss of habitat and the widespread use of pesticides, (fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, bactericides, molluscicides etc). Habitat loss covers a broad spectrum that removes or reduces sources of appropriate nutrition, sites for depositing eggs, nesting sites, adequate cover and shelter. It’s hard to find anywhere or any situation where these circumstances don’t apply with agricultural practices being by far the main cause but we need to see that habitat losses apply equally to our homes and gardens.  New or renovated buildings rarely leave places where wildlife used to thrive; eaves are sealed and walls are neat and smooth which removes millions of roosting or nesting places for birds, insects, bats and other creatures.

Where agriculture is concerned it would be hard to find any aspect of it that hasn’t had an extremely detrimental impact on our wildlife with many species being pushed to the edge. Pesticides, removal of hedgerows, the cultivation of every marginal piece of land all responding to greater and greater pressures for more animal feedstuffs and biofuels along with increased pressure to fill the supermarket shelves with a constant flow of uniform fruit and vegetables half of which is wasted. Add to this the mountains of cakes and pastry products all requiring evermore wheat production.

It’s also worth mentioning the impact that many of the introduced non-native species are having on our native species by way of predation or competition for available resources. Asian Hornets, Box moth, Louisana Crayfish and the American Bullfrog are well-known examples but there are hundreds more.

The effects of climate change are too difficult to quantify at the present but undoubtedly play a role that can only grow in the future.

So when it comes to species declines it’s quite clear that hunting doesn’t really begin to count and even from a cruelty perspective it’s no different to the rearing and slaughter of most commercial meat, fish and poultry for the mass consumer market.

For the record, my own view is that hunting and killing other species is rarely justified and that the killing of wild or native birds, in particular, has no place at all in the 21^st Century.

Species it is permitted to hunt in France  

Preventing hunting on your land in France  

Industrial breeding of species for the hunt.

Chris

Stopping hunting on your land in France

As this is another subject that keeps cropping up here is a little reminder that you don’t have to have the chasse trundling across your land or through your garden if you don’t want them there. 

It would take far too much space to write everything about the subject, so to keep it simple, we could say that after the revolution hunting became something of a free for all until the main law which relates to the situation now was passed in 1964, the so called “Law Verdeille” named after Fernand Verdeille the senateur who proposed it. This regularised the situation somewhat and gave rights to hunters to form Associations known as d'associations communales de chasse agréées or ACCA which have a contract with the commune, (renewable every 5 years), and gave the rights to hunt on all the territory within that commune in return for an indemnity to control species that cause damage to agriculture or forestry. The only alternative to this was for landowners with 20 hectares or more to create an area of private hunting.  There is also a requirement for an ACCA to “set aside” a minimum of 10% of “their” territory as hunt free zones, a rule which is frequently operated in a cynical manner placing these zones where no one would or could hunt anyway.  The  main flaw in this law was that it didn’t give the choice or right to landowners to withdraw their land from hunting completely.

This changed with the French bill n°2000-698 of 26th July 2000 which amended the rural code allowing owners opposed to hunting to withdraw their land from the ACCA, thus giving them the opportunity to create a "wildlife sanctuary" or hunt free zone. This change in law was brought about by a case brought before the European Court by a group of landowners and on 29th April 1999, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Law Verdeille was incompatible with the rights of a private landowner in a case that was defended and lost by the French State. This still doesn’t allow for someone who is not in principle against hunting but simply wants to prevent it taking place on their land to do so as they have to be willing to give up the right to hunt themselves anywhere in France, as a person using this law can not be in possession of a Permis de Chasse, (hunting permit).  

Should anyone wish to prevent hunting and hunters on their land see this link - Stopping hunting on your land in France

Chris

Partridge, Pheasant, Mallard and a few others

Many people fail to understand the different types of hunting in France and the methods used. British and French people alike refer to La Chasse, (the hunt), as if it was one thing or one group of people – nothing could be further from the truth.

Spurred on by something I witnessed the other day I thought I would shine a little light on some aspects of what is called Chasse de loisir or Recreational hunting which generally falls into two sections, firstly what we would call wildfowling in the hunting of wild ducks, geese and waders and secondly what is called Rough shooting in the UK where shooters may use their trained dogs (usually Spaniels, Labradors or similar breeds) to flush game out of the hedgerows, woods or other cover as they walk along and often act as retrievers of any creatures shot.

What I want to stick to here is the Rough shooting aspect and the species that mainly relates to are:

Rabbits, Hares, Partridge, (Red-legged and Grey), Wood Pigeon, Stock Dove, Woodcock and Pheasants of various types, more or less what most people would expect but where do they come from?

Some are as you would expect actually wild but many people that live in France will have perhaps noticed a pheasant, a hare or some red-legged partridge walking by the roadside or in their garden that behave as if they have just wandered out accidentally from domestic captivity and that isn’t far from the truth.

What we find is that there are more than 8,000 breeders of “game” in France and around 70% of them are members of the syndicat national des producteurs de gibier de chasse, (The National syndicate of producers of game for hunting).

From them we can obtain the following most recent annual production numbers. 

- 14 million Pheasants

- 5 million Partridge, (Red-legged and Grey)

- 1 million Mallard

- 120 000 Hares

- 10 000 Rabbits

- 500 tonnes Red Deer

- 170 tonnes Fallow Deer

Click on photos to enlarge.

This is only from the 70% of breeders that are members of the society and we can only speculate at how many more there are raised in France plus imports from Eastern Europe. It will certainly be considerably more.

These birds and animals are sold either to private hunts or to local associations for release into the wild, in the case of Mallard, Pheasant and

Partridge this will be in the weeks immediately prior to the start of the hunting season for those species. Obviously as a result of their captive breeding they are completely ill suited to life in the wild being both used to humans and being fed, hence their tameness. 

So to cut to the chase as the expression goes I was out walking my dog the other day at around 2pm on a public chemin, (unmade road), when I first heard and then spotted a number, perhaps a dozen, red legged partridge directly ahead. Almost as soon as I had spotted them I saw a car coming in the other direction that slowed right down and slowly eased its way through the birds which hardly moved. The car continued and came slowly past me and through the open window I heard them cursing the fact that there was a promeneur, (a walker), and I half wondered what would happen next as I continued slowly towards the birds.  The car stopped about 100 metres away from me and one man got out and started walking in my direction. By now I had reached the partridge that were feeding on some scattered maize, (corn), and some went into the bushes and the others trotted along the track in front of me. Meanwhile the man with the gun was limping up behind us. Gradually all but two of the partridge took flight but when this happened I was between him and the birds there was nothing he could do without risking hitting me.  Unfortunately one came back out onto the track the other side of the hunter and what followed astounded me. He slowly walked up to it until it was almost at his feet and then stamped his foot to make it fly at which point he shot it. It would seem the bird has to be in the air to provide “good sport”, perhaps that’s why they don’t use chickens and as you can see in the photo below he wasn’t too happy about my camera. 

Click on photos to enlarge.

Chris

Ortolan Bunting - a typically French approach to protection?

Due to the "peculiar nature" of the situation with the Ortolan Bunting in France I've chosen to blog this rather than use a page on the web site.

The situation in France.

In Les Landes the Ortolan bunting is a species that has historically been captured to be eaten as a “Regional delicacy”, a food reserved mainly for the rich that was served in the best restaurants of Paris and the other large French cities and has graced the tables of the wealthy and  politicians for hundreds of years. It was for this reason that France derogated this species from the European Bird Directive. This led to something of a paradox because although the Ortolan bunting wasn't listed as protected in France neither was it included on the list of species permitted to be hunted. This enabled them to be captured alive, transported, kept in captivity, bought and sold and killed – BUT NOT HUNTED. In a few regions the practice of capturing them continued to be considered as “traditionale”, being apparently an important part of French culture. After being banned in the Lot-et-Garonne and the Gers it only left Les Landes where this continued until finally under mounting pressure they were made a protected species in France on 15^th March 1999. Unfortunately the illegal capture and trade continues and little is done to prevent it. With an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 people involved in their capture in Les Landes and each bird with an end price “served up” on the table of €100 to €150 or even more it isn’t difficult to see the financial attractions or the probable reasons why there is what seems to be a “blind eye” from the authorities. 

The Capture.

The process commences when the birds are captured, either in mist nets or more usually these days in small cages on posts and this takes place when the birds are on their autumn migration, mainly from the North and Centre of Europe where the south west of France forms their major route. The cages are spaced out in blocks on open land that is often concealed in the middle of maize fields. They have a small dish of fine seed placed in them to attract the birds, then as the Ortolan enters, the cage snaps shut. It is estimated that some 30,000 to 50,000 of these so called “protected birds” are caught in these traps, (called matoles), each year in Les Landes, which is the equivalent of the combined total of all the nesting Ortolan in the Benelux countries, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In recent years the LPO and CABS have been present in some of the areas where the birds are trapped and have attempted to destroy as many illegal traps as possible after releasing any birds. They have also denounced this situation of tolerance established between the administration and the poachers without concrete results and in spite of the promises made by various Ministers for Ecology to put an end to this situation very few prosecutions actually take place.

Videolink – destruction of traps by the LPO.

The Fattening.

The captured the birds are fattened for a few weeks by being fed millet in suspended cages kept in dark barns. Kept in these artificial conditions and with an ample supply of food and water they gorge themselves rapidly putting on excess weight.

The Eating.

Now we come to what we could call the “sacred” bit or perhaps "satanical" would be more appropriate as the cooking and eating of Ortolan buntings takes on something of a ritualistic aspect. There are several ways in which the bird can be prepared and back in the 19^th century Alcide Bontou the famous chef had several recipes for them in his work titled “Traité de Cuisine Bourgeoise Bordelaise”. However, in all cases the birds are plucked and cooked whole, often having been first drowned in Armagnac. The person eating the bunting usually holds it delicately by the beak and legs, then with a napkin  draped over their head and in silence with eyes closed the bird is taken whole into the mouth and slowly chewed, perhaps after having first sucked the juices.

Ortolan bunting was famously reported to be Francois Mitterrand's last meal and there is also a section in the documentary "A table avec les politiques", (France 3, 29^th September 2007), showing Alain Juppe and Jack Lang enjoying a private meal of Ortolan where you can see this ritual taking place. 

Video link: Politicians illegally eating Ortolan on television.

About Ortolan Bunting.

Description.

Slightly larger than a sparrow the male Ortolan bunting is easily recognised by its colouring. A greyish olive green stretches of the head and neck to the top of the chest with a yellow throat and “moustache”. The lower half of the body is a rich cinnamon. Upper parts are brown and streaked. A good view will reveal a yellow eye ring, buff pink beak and feet. Females are paler, less green with small dark streaks on the breast.

Habitat, Behaviour and Diet.

Here in Poitou-Charentes they arrive from tropical Africa in mid April and depart towards the end of September and the Vienne Departement hosts the largest breeding population in Central / West of France, although there are significant, if small, populations in the other three Departments. Habitat, as is often the case, is paramount for Ortolan. They require an open aspect with sparse ground cover and a soil that is “hot and dry”. Typically this is the type of small family size vineyards that have the odd small fruit trees included and aren’t kept over “weed” free. Other open sparsely covered ground such as wasteland and set aside, which is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, will also be suitable. Nests are constructed on or very close to the ground in a clump of plants from mid May and the female produces 4/5 eggs, usually in June; usually there is only one brood. Breeding males will be seen singing in a small tree, on a stone wall or vine in close proximity to the nest with a call that resembles that of a Yellowhammer. Food, which is taken on the ground, is mainly insects and caterpillars supplemented with small seeds as the season progresses. 

Threats.

With the exception of Poland, Bulgaria and the Baltic States they are in decline throughout their European breeding range, although with a large global population they aren’t currently considered to be globally at risk they are considered to be threatened in France. Other than the obvious annual slaughter the situation is linked to changes in agricultural practices, particularly the intensive use of pesticides and the abandonment of traditional practices. 

In the Vienne we have the only remaining viable ortolan population in the region with all the adjoining Departements either in steep decline or it having disappeared completely as a nesting bird. For this reason in 2013 the LPO Vienne commenced a program "connaitre et protéger" for the Otrolan in the parts of the Vienne where it best represented, principally Le Pays du Haut-Poitou et Clain. Working on two fronts with farmers to provide the correct good habitat and with schools to educate the young - always important.

Carte Vienne Ortolan bunting 2013

Chris

Skylark hunting in France

Skylark hunting in France - a tradition that should be confined to history books?

Most people are unaware that Skylarks are still legally hunted in some member countries of the EU and are equally unaware of some of the methods used in the name of tradition.

In France Skylarks can be shot anywhere in France during the open hunting season, normally set from around the middle to end of September until the end of February. In practice for most of France this may only amount to perhaps a few thousand in total although it’s unlikely that any serious reporting of numbers of kills takes place.

The main hunting using clap nets takes place in the Departemnets of Gironde, Landes,  Lot-et-Garonne and Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

This is from CABS.

Although shooting of Skylarks is permitted in France, as in other Mediterranean countries, four French Départements also allow trapping of the endangered species in nets. In the Bordeaux region of Aquitaine 10,000 trapping installations with gigantic trapping nets lies between the migrating birds and their winter destinations in the south. The dunes on the Atlantic coast and the harvested fields in the immediate hinterland are full of nets in autumn.

Live decoy birds are used as lures. The larks trapped for this purpose are tethered by their feet and are connected to the trapper who sits in a hut at the edge of the installation, by a long cord. When birds approach the nets the trapper pulls on the cord and the decoy bird starts to flutter its wings. At the same time the trapper mimics Skylark calls on a pipe and so lures a whole flock to their doom. When enough birds have landed the trapper releases a mechanism and the nets, several hundred square metres in area, clap together over the birds.

As if this wasn’t enough, two Départements also allow each trapper to set out up to 300 cage traps for larks!

More than 3,000 bird trappers are officially licensed to catch larks. The trapping quota varies in each Département - in Gironde for instance each trapper can catch 336 larks annually. Altogether one million Skylarks can legally be trapped in France every year; the true figure is probably a few hundred thousand in excess of this figure.

SOURCE CABS

Below: Official figures for the EU countries that have derogated using “tradition” as a reason to allow hunting of Skylark.

SOURCE EUROPA

Below we have school children on an arranged day outing being taught the wonders of trapping and killing Wood pigeon and Skylark. (Travail réalisé par les élèves de la classe de CM1 CM2 de l’Ecole de CASTETS en DORTHE dans le cadre du projet sur le patrimoine cyclo.)

Tying a skylark SOURCE

Needless to say this is only part of the picture. There are large numbers of Finches and Ortolan Bunting illegally trapped and killed in south west France with impunity mainly to supply an elite market but more of that another time.

Although the Skylark has a huge range and benefits from having a large population base it has been in decline now for many years and most would conclude that habitat loss is the root cause. On the basis that they are in decline should be good enough reason to call an end to killing this tiny bird just because it’s deemed to be traditional.

Chris