The atmosphere is tense at the moment in Lorette, in the heart of the Gier valley, in the Loire. Especially when you walk around the cemetery, located just between the A47 motorway and a very steep hillside, where wild goats live. The mayor of the city wants to shoot them down, because they would have damaged graves. A decision that arouses a lot of opposition. About fifteen people tried this Sunday to carry out a rescue operation.
This operation revealed all the tensions that had been latent for a few days in Lorette. On site this Sunday, about fifteen residents and activists and sympathizers of the animal cause. For two hours they raked the hillside above the cemetery, never succeeding in getting their hands on one of the three goats that were still grazing there. Nine of them have already been shot dead. After which several associations had filed a complaint.
Strong tensions between residents and animal activists
“Mr. Mayor, he did everything right, he did the right thing!” This Lorettoise goes to her husband’s grave, and stops to exchange a few words with those present to save the goats. It is in fact Chantal Fayelle, municipal councilor of Lorette, member of Gérard Tardy’s majority and deputy departmental councilor.
The discussion rises in decibels in a fraction of a second. “Do you think it’s okay to kill animals in a cemetery?” we answer him. “When you come in and see your husband’s grave smashed in, but what do you say?” the local woman gets carried away.
– Matthew Le Meur
In the legal battle, the prefecture sheds its cards
The mayor of Lorette Gérard Tardy issued an order authorizing the beating of wild goats until December 31, 2021. Less than a week before the expiry of the text, the Loire prefecture filed an appeal with the administrative court on Friday, to request the cancellation of the decree.
The prefecture argues that Gérard Tardy’s decision is disproportionate: the aedile should have raised the fences around the cemetery, and in any case did not have the right to resort to a beat in an arbitrary manner.
Asked, the mayor of Lorette did not grant us an interview. And we summarize his position by SMS: “[…] As far as I am concerned, the case is closed because for eight days there has been no more desecration of graves in our cemetery. The hunt last Sunday for the slaughter of wild and non-catchable goats bore fruit.[…]”
The defenders of the wild goats of the cemetery do not intend to fade after the deadline of December 31, a demonstration is already scheduled for Wednesday January 5 at 2 p.m. in front of the town hall of Lorette.