For more than four years he was in the sights of the Office of Hunting and Wildlife. Bernard F., 68 years old, was judged this Thursday, September 17 in Dax for having captured no less than 10 000 volatiles protected, all within ten years.
A former electrician, this small-time poacher explained at the helm that his captures complemented his meager pension of 900 euros, according to the Parisian which reports the information.
“He paid off his debt, with rods on which there were piafs”
Robin, sparrows, finches … Many protected birds have crossed his path. Except for the tits which they were released
. After having captured them using glue traps or matoles, a bird trap typical of the Landes region, the sixty-year-old was busy plucking, emptying and freezing them.
Then all that remained for the retiree was to transform them in the form of skewers to… sell them. 25 euros the skewer of twelve.
Among the regular clients of the retiree is the name of Jean-Pierre B., a known rugby player, former international of US Dax, now 71 years old. According to the Parisian, it all started with a story of debt.
After meeting Bernard F. at the Dax celebrations in 2013, the former rugby player made a gesture to his new friend by lending him 500 euros. It was from this moment that Bernard F. began to provide him with bird skewers to repay his debt.
Its customers assure us that they “did not necessarily know” that birds were protected species. Their lawyer intends to plead this ignorance, with sales of skewers of plucked and gutted birds.
– Benjamin Ferret (@BenjaminFerret) September 17, 2020
He paid off his debt, with rods on which there were emptied, plucked and frozen piafs. Then I continued to buy him some
, confided Jean-Pierre B. In total, the latter bought 134 skewers from the former electrician, between 2013 and 2019, for an amount of… 3,350 euros.
An “ecological damage”
As early as November 2015, the system set up by Bernard F. was noticed by the Office de la chasse et de la fauna sauvage. But it was in 2019, when he saw a trap, that he was arrested.
In his freezer, the police find birds, all from protected species. A notebook recording each of his sales is also discovered.
In court on Thursday, the Society for the Study, Protection and Development of Nature in the South West (SEPANSO) insisted on the ecological damage
of such a market. 30% of the population of small country birds has disappeared in fifteen years
, said the lawyer of the association François Ruffié, CNRS report in support.
While the civil party lawyers have asked compensation exceeding one million euros
, the requisitions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office speak of a 2-year suspended prison sentence for the poacher, and fines of 3,500 and 5,000 euros for clients.
The final judgment will be rendered on November 19.
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