The snow partridge, also called the rock ptarmigan, is a bird threatened with extinction and protected by a European Union directive. At the beginning of the month, the prefecture of Ariège had nevertheless issued an order authorizing his hunting during the month. Samples limited to ten but which aroused a reaction from the Ariège Ecological Committee. This association had seized the administrative court of Toulouse to obtain urgently its suspension.
Wednesday, the judge of the summary proceedings followed their request, estimating that “the fixing at ten of the number of samples does not make it possible to guarantee” that they “will not compromise the efforts of conservation” of this endangered mountain bird “in the long term” disappearance, indicates the judge in his decision.
A “victory” for naturalists
The prefect of Ariège had indicated for her part that “in view of the low numbers of authorized samples (…) during a very limited period, there is no risk of the species disappearing or of a significant decrease in workforce ”. An argument also supported by the Departmental Federation of Hunters of Ariège.
⚖️👩⚖️The administrative court of Toulouse suspends the hunting of Ptarmigan in the department of Ariège🪶
👏 Congratulations to # AriegeoisEcological Committee for this new victory pic.twitter.com/DL53RK09rV– FNE Midi-Pyrénées (@fne_mp) October 13, 2021
For its part, France Nature Environnement considers that this is a “new victory”. The administrative court should rule shortly on the possible annulment of the order requested by the Ariège ecological committee.