Lark, nice lark… The government has again authorized traditional forms of skylark hunting, using cages and nets, in several departments in the south-west. A decision written in a series of texts published Friday in the Official newspaperand which risks contravening European law.
The capture of these birds “using pairs of horizontal nets (“pantes”) constitutes a judicious exploitation of small quantities of birds”, indicates a first decree. “It is only authorized in the departments of Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne and Pyrénées-Atlantiques from October 1 to November 20. »
A second decree specifies the number of captures authorized with pantes for the 2022-2023 season, i.e. up to 56,672 in the Landes. Another text this time authorizes hunting using trap cages (“matoles”), “under strictly controlled conditions”, in the Landes and Lot-et-Garonne, from October 1 to November 20. Finally, an order specifies the number of larks that can be captured in this way, ie a few thousand for the hunting season.
LPO summary appeal
Measures denounced by the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) in a press release: “The government is choosing to repeat the offense by taking up orders that it knows to be illegal. And, as usual, he publishes them the day before they are applied in order to allow thousands of birds to be killed while the Council of State decides on the summary appeal that the LPO will file immediately to request the suspension of these orders. »
The European “birds” directive of 2009 prohibits mass capture techniques without distinction of species. A derogation is possible “provided that it is duly justified” and when there is “no other satisfactory solution” to capture certain birds. In October 2021, the interim judge of the Council of State had suspended decrees authorizing traditional hunts. A decision is now awaited on the merits.
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, president of the LPO, frontally criticized President Emmanuel Macron following the publication of the decrees. “His decision to restore medieval practices affecting a fragile species goes against his claims and disavows his own minister who had guaranteed to wait for the judgment of the Council of State before any decision”, considers the official.