A fox near Chinon, in the Loire Valley, July 20, 2020. GUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP
Will the French government, this summer, go against scientific recommendations and issue a new decree authorizing the culling of millions of birds and mammals? Several studies have highlighted the major shortcomings of the current policy regulating "species likely to cause damage" (ESOD). Nature conservation groups and organizations such as France's General Inspectorate for the Environment and Sustainable Development (IGEDD) have called for a "paradigm shift."
A new study, commissioned and funded by the Ministry for the Environmental Transition, reinforces these calls. Published on Monday, March 9 in the journal Biological Conservation, it states that destroying ESOD species is "inefficient, economically unjustifiable and ethically questionable." Each year in France, about 1.7 million foxes, mustelids and corvids are killed to reduce the damage they may cause and to mitigate health risks. These animals are classified as ESOD, a designation that allows for their destruction by shooting, trapping and digging out year-round, even outside regular hunting seasons.
Specific to France, this policy of regulating species formerly classified as "pests" had previously never been evaluated. For the first time, researchers had access to the administrative data on which the government relies to renew the three-year ESOD decree: the monetary value of damage attributed to each species, broken down by department and hunting season, and the number of animals killed. These figures are reported by farmers, hunters, or private individuals and are not subject to verification.
