In the skin of information. What you need to know about the draft decree which targets the wild rabbit in Paris

The wild rabbit, from its Latin name “oryctolagus cuniculus”, is covered by a draft decree. The Paris prefecture wants to classify it as a harmful species. This animal, smaller than a hare, with grey-brown fur, does not really roam the streets of the capital. Driven out of Porte Maillot by works and concrete, it is now only in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.

>> Paris: rabbits can stay on the lawn of the Invalides

The wild rabbit lives on and around the Invalides site, which is one of the last grassy areas of the capital. If seeing it hopping on the lawn is an attraction for tourists, the prefecture, for its part, considers that it does too much damage on the lawn and in the massifs.

Also, in its draft decree, the Paris prefecture ensures that rabbits will be “captured and then released after preliminary visual examination from a health point of view” although they are not vectors of disease. And it does not specify how the animal will be captured or where it will be released.

The prefecture admitted to having euthanized rabbits in the past

In 2021, the prefecture of Paris had been forced to recognize before an administrative court that they were captured by ferrets and then euthanized. Justice had then estimated that wild rabbits were not numerous enough in Paris to be classified as harmful, so they were able to stay quiet. The prefecture is now returning to the charge with this draft decree.

Despite everything, the Association for the Defense of Animals “PAZ” is keeping watch. It calls on Parisians to participate in the public consultation on the prefecture’s website and to reject the draft decree. The wild rabbit is considered by many to be a threat, but it is a victim of hunting, the artificialization of the soil and intensive agriculture. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it is a near-threatened species.