The Council of State puts an end to traditional hunts targeting larks

The Council of State has ruled that hunting with pantes (nets) and matoles (cages) used against larks is illegal, deeming them to be non-compliant with European law.

“For the moment, no traditional bird hunting is de facto authorized in France”, welcomed the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO). In a decision handed down on Monday, May 6, the Council of State judged illegal the hunting of pantes (using nets) and matoles (using cages) used against larks. In a decision on the merits which definitively annuls several government decrees taken in October 2022, the highest French administrative court, seized by LPO and One Voice, considered that these practices are not in compliance with European law.

Skylarks, once common birds in our countryside, have seen their numbers drop by 25% since 1980, according to the LPO.

This decision of the Council of State concerning larks echoes another judgment dating from May 2023. At the time, the Council of State had canceled framework decrees of 1989 authorizing hunting with glue and with traps called tenderies on other species of birds.

“Tradition” is not enough to justify these practices, judges the Council of State

In its decision on the merits, the Council of State considers that justifying these hunts in the name of respect for tradition “not enough”. “The reason for the exemption” introduced into the decrees “mainly lies in the objective of preserving the use of hunting methods constituting a traditional practice which (…) cannot in itself justify the absence of another satisfactory solution”it is written in the decision.

If the 2009 European “birds” directive prohibits mass capture techniques for birds without distinction of species, an exemption is possible “provided that it is duly motivated and there is no other satisfactory solution for capturing certain birds”. However, the judge considered that it has not been demonstrated that these types of hunting would be the only ones allowing the capture of skylarks, which can also be hunted by shooting, for example.

Finally, the Council of State ruled that these types of hunting risk leading to significant accidental captures of other birds.