CIt may seem unbelievable but today, in France, we continue to hunt marmots. In a dozen French departments, the massacre begins this Sunday, September 11 with the opening of the 2022-2023 hunting season. The marmot is an animal much appreciated by the French: postcards, stuffed animals and other objects bearing its effigy are snapped up in the mountain regions where tourist offices, communities and companies brandish it as a selling point in their logos and communications.
Consensual, “cute”, harmless: the marmot has everything to please and is a real asset for economic players who use and abuse its image. But the hunting lobby spares no one, not even this emblem of the Alps: last year, in Savoie, more than 400 marmots were killed for the simple pleasure of a few individuals.
The marmot is however an animal protected by the Bern Convention, an international treaty that France ratified in 1990 and which is supposed to ensure the conservation of wildlife. The marmot is listed in Appendix III and is therefore subject to specific protection measures. Its management must therefore “be regulated in order to keep populations out of danger”.
Remove the marmot from the list of huntable species
Problem: there is, to date, no official count to know exactly the state of the population of marmots and we play on this lack of knowledge to continue to authorize its hunting. The latter are however doing very badly, victims of the effects of global warming, the incivility of hikers or the behavior of dogs, and we are already worried to see this friendly rodent disappear from the French mountains. A prefectural decree also prohibits its hunting in Cantal and the Pyrénées-Orientales for the 2022-2023 season.
We preserve on one side, but we kill on the other. Without reason. There is no question here of hunting trying to justify itself by any need for “regulation”: this activity remains authorized for the sole purpose of satisfying a handful of hunters adept at this archaic practice.
The marmot is a living being endowed with sensitivity which must be protected as such. We are asking the government today to ban this absurd hunt throughout France and to remove the marmot from the list of huntable species as of now.
Signatories : Jean-David AbelTrustee of Mountain Wilderness; Charlotte Arnalpresident of the Humanisma association; Muriel Arnalfounding president of One voice; Nadia Baschonpresident of the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) of Savoie; Morgan Ceulemanshead of Consciousness impact ecology – Savoie; Monique Constantpresident of the Association for the protection, study and promotion of marmots (APEVM); Marie-Paule de ThiersantPresident of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes; Michele Durieuxpresident of the Collectif animalier du 06; Frederic Danielvice-president of Acting for living things and wild species (AVES) France; Pauline of NicolantonioPresident of the Justice Animals Savoie association (AJAS); Frédéric FreundDirector of the Work for Assistance to Slaughterhouse Animals (OABA); Marc Giraudspokesperson for the Association Protection des Animaux Sauvages (ASPAS); Brigitte Gothieredirector and co-founder of L214 – Ethics & Animals; Sandra Guyomardpresident of Cetacean Network; Reha HutinPresident of the 30 Million Friends Foundation; Marie-Laure Lapradepresident of the Animal Ethics Education Association; Christopher Mariedeputy director of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation (FBB); Gerard Martinadministrator of Convention vie et nature; Marc PeyronnardPresident of France Nature Environnement (FNE) Savoie; Amandine SanvisensPresident of Paris Animal Zoopolis (PAZ); Louis SchweitzerPresident of the Animal Law, Ethics and Science Foundation (LFDA); Nathalie SoissonVice-President of the Association for the Protection of Animals through Law (APRAD); Benoit Thome, President of Animal Cross; Elodie Vieille Blanchardpresident of the Vegetarian Association of France (AVF).
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