South France
Rabbit plague: Mayor has the community put up a poster with a ragout recipe
For years they were not hunted enough, and now southern France is suffering from a rabbit plague. A mayor therefore suggests eating the rodents (symbolic image).
© Volker Bartels / DPA
A rabbit plague is causing problems in the south of France. The mayor of a small town takes it with humor and presents a recipe. Animal rights activists don’t like it at all.
With the wooden spoon against the rabbit plague: Ragout campaign causes criticism
Of course, the campaign was meant to be tongue in cheek, but it was intended to provide impetus to finally combat the rabbit plague, said Mayor Jean-Luc Meissonnier. The animals stole part of farmers’ crops, destroyed the local golf course and caused damage to the railway embankment. One farmer’s rabbits have already eaten the strawberries he grew and if no action is taken, lettuce, chives and onions would be next in danger. The mayor said the population of rabbits has grown because the animals are not hunted sufficiently.
“It is a pity that we do not return to those good dishes that delighted an entire family with something that was not expensive,” said the mayor of his call to prepare rabbit ragout. Animal rights activists, meanwhile, are outraged by the campaign and point out that it was the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals (Asap) that only last year enforced a ban on hunting foxes, the natural enemies of rabbits. In other areas, rabbit populations have also declined sharply; instead of turning the Baillargues rabbits into ragout, it would be better to catch them and release them again in these regions.