Nature protection associations estimate that the damage caused by the animal, considered “likely to cause damage” in 91 departments, are overestimated.
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Opportunistic and henler nesting: his bad reputation glue his fur. Counting Among Chassable species of June to March as “sedentary game”, the fox can also be killed by different means throughout the year in the 91 departments where it is classified “species likely to cause damage” (ESOD).
Continuous pressure on this predator than nature protection organizations would like to reduce. For Marc Giraud, naturalist and spokesman for the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals (Aspas), the animal undergoes a persecution. “Our goal is to change the status of the fox to be considered game and levied only during the hunting period.” Without the status of harmful, the animal could no longer be taken from day and night, undertaken Her burrow by hunting dogs, trapped …
The association won a local victory Thursday, March 31st. The Administrative Court of Rouen, seized by the Aspas, act for the living and the wildlife species (AES France) and the League for the protection of birds (LPO), canceled an order of the prefect of Seine-Maritime which had authorized the Slaughter of 850 foxes in 2020. “What is interesting is the case law that emerges, reacted Richard Holding, a communication officer at Aspas. Now, as soon as we attack, we are sure to win.”
Self-regulation of the species
Fox defenders accuse the hunters to overestimate the nuisances caused by the animal and reject the arguments put forward by the National Federation of Hunters (FNC) and the various departmental commissions of the wildlife and wildlife (CDCFS) charged to apply the ESOD classification or not. According to the authorities, various grounds justify its presence on this list: the protection of the fauna and flora, the interest of health and public safety, the prevention of significant damage to agricultural, forestry and aquaculture activities … in Seine- Maritime, the Prefect had put forward, to justify its decree, “the predation of this species on the small game, especially the gray partridges”, as well as “the risk of spreading diseases communicable to humans and conveyed by the Fox “- in particular the alveolar echinococcosis, a contracted disease by contact with infected animals or their excrements staining plants – and” the need to protect poultry farms “.
The need to regulate the species, abundant in some territories where it has no other predator than man, is put forward by the Ministry of the Ecological Transition. The number of individuals in France remains stable, or even increases slightly – a proof, according to Nicolas Rivet, general manager of the National Federation of Hunters, that “even if hunters take and regulate foxes, it does not have an impact on the population “.
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