The French government has approved the legal trapping and hunting of more than 150,000 wild birds in France this season – a total higher than last year’s permitted catches. The figures, published on 5 September, legalise the use of various trapping methods, some of which are widely considered inhumane and invariably inflict pain and suffering […]
Tag: France

Petition: Undercover Investigation Reveals Cruelty at French Fur Farm
It seems the world is realizing how cruel fur farming really is. Places like Czech Republic and Ireland have both banned fur farming. However, just when you think the world is getting it, an undercover investigation reveals there is still far too much cruelty. Even if there were just one fur farm open and operating, […]

Europe faces ‘biodiversity oblivion’ after collapse in French birds, experts warn
The “catastrophic” decline in French farmland birds signals a wider biodiversity crisis in Europe which ultimately imperils all humans, leading scientists have told the Guardian. A dramatic fall in farmland birds such as skylarks, whitethroats and ortolan bunting in France was revealed by two studies this week, with the spread of neonicotinoid pesticides – and […]

After tragic shooting of escaped tiger, should France ban circus animals?
Within just a few days last month, both Italy and Ireland banned the use of performing animals in circuses on a national level, joining 11 other members of the European Union that have already done so. France, unfortunately, is not one of those countries. A couple of weeks later, an 18-month-old tiger named Mevy escaped […]

POLL: Should the Ortolan Bunting poaching ban be strictly enforced in France?
The French Ministry of Ecology, Nicolas Hulot has committed to ending the large-scale trapping of Ortolan Bunting, which takes place to meet demand for a cruel dish where the songbird is blinded, plumpened and drowned in brandy. It’s a practice that has driven population declines of up to 84% in Europe since 1980. Ortolan is […]

European Bee-eater
Merops apiaste South-east of France – Mid-may 2017 About 150 birds on this protected site: Guepier Europeen Sud-est de la France Mi-mai 2017 Environ 150 guêpiers sur ce site heureusement très protégé:

Blackcap Singing
Blackcaps are quite stocky birds, about the size of house sparrows. They are mainly light grey-brown in colour with the male having a neat black cap on its head, while the female’s cap is chestnut-brown. In summer, recently fledged young also have a chestnut-brown cap, with young males gaining their black cap by late autumn. […]

Eurasian cranes
The weather getting at last better I decided to go see if the “grandes mademoiselles” were present. They are very shy birds and migrate south to winter in Africa, Spain and the south of France. The counts were up to 5000 very recently in the Magnoac region at the Puydarrieux lake, France. The water levels […]