the hunts for glue and tenderries definitively repealed by the Council of State

There LPO speaks of a “historic victory”. The Council of State has ordered the French government to repeal the framework decrees of 1989 concerning hunting with glue and with traps called tenderries. These techniques have been de facto banned in recent years by the courts.

🚨HISTORICAL victory for @LPOFrance and the #biodiversity.
THE #Board of state DEFINITELY bury the #hunts traditional.
+ 20 years of hard work, congratulations to the teams and our lawyers. Law and science are our best allies. 💚 pic.twitter.com/NAEfvqHjmP

— Matthieu ORPHELIN (@M_Orphelin) May 24, 2023

“It is enjoined to the Minister in charge of hunting to repeal the decrees of August 17, 1989 respectively relating to the use of glue for the capture of thrushes and blackbirds intended to serve as decoys in the departments of Alpes-de-Haute -Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Vaucluse, at the lapwing tender in the Ardennes department and at the thrush tender in the same department”indicates the Council of State in its decision rendered on Wednesday.

The government has two months to respect this decision

A “period of two months from the notification of this decision” is given to the government to respect this decision. The Ministry of Ecological Transition told AFP that it “will naturally follow up on this injunction from the Council of State”recalling that in practice, these decrees “are already inoperative”.

Glue hunting had already been deemed illegal by the highest French administrative court in June 2021, but this decision did not directly concern the 1989 framework decrees which therefore still remained in force. “These framework decrees constitute the legal basis on which the ministry relied each year to authorize these practices and set annual deduction ceilings”recalls the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO), applicant in this case, in a press release.

Uncertainty remains for panties and matoles

This “definitive repeal (…) will no longer allow the government to reoffend with impunity each year by authorizing, at the request of hunters, practices that it knows are illegal” And “Finally comes to close an unspeakable process that had lasted too long”, rejoiced the president of the LPO, Allain Bougrain Dubourg. The government points out that it has not issued annual decrees on glue since 2020 and on tenderries (traps) since 2022.

Concerning other traditional hunting methods such as pantes (nets) and matoles (cages) used for larks, uncertainty remains, however, because the government issued a new framework decree on October 4. The latter was challenged on the merits before the Council of State by the LPO.