The administrative court of Bastia canceled, Tuesday January 31, an order issued in December 2020 by the prefect of Haute-Corse. It limited the practice of hunting within a radius of 20 kilometers and for a period of three hours. The State must pay 1,500 euros to the departmental federation of hunters.
It is a victory for the hunters of Haute-Corse. Tuesday, January 31, their federation obtained from the administrative court of Bastia the cancellation of an order issued by the prefect of the department. Justice also obliges the State to pay 1,500 euros to the departmental federation of hunters.
Taken on 1is December 2020, the decree limited the practice of hunting within a radius of 20 kilometers and for a period of three hours, removing any possibility of derogations when damage was caused to crops. This measure, taken during the period of the second confinement, was repealed on October 21, 2021.
A decision “satisfactory” for the lawyer of the federation of hunters of Haute-Corse Bernard Giansily.
But also and above all for the president of the federation, Jean-Baptiste Mari: “At the time, we had no doubts about our rights in contesting this decree, but the Prefect apparently did, since by removing the derogations from non-collective hunting he had no more or less stopped the regulation of the boar in beats that we allowed everywhere else in France. He even went so far as not to follow the instructions given by the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Today, society is still paying the consequences with the increase in the damage of wild boars in crops. and their proliferation in the city. Pray that we will not have such behavior from the representative of the State if similar circumstances were to arise again.”
The administrative court found a procedural defect. “It appears from the documents in the file that the departmental commission for hunting and wildlife was not consulted before the prefect of Haute-Corse, by the contested decree, determined the conditions for the exercise of hunting and prohibits all actions of regulation of wild fauna and destruction of animal species likely to cause damage”reads the text of the decision.
However, this lack of consultation of the committee “was likely to influence the meaning of the decision taken”.
During the hearing, last January 12, the public rapporteur had also considered that the prefect had not taken a measure “necessary and proportionate with regard to the objective of safeguarding public health”.
Finally, he pointed out that the decree did not take into account the activity “of general interest” represented by the hunting of species causing damage and nuisance.
