• This Monday, the Council of State banned the practice of glue hunting.

  • Followers of this Provençal tradition denounce an attack on rurality and local culture

  • Opponents for their part welcome the end of a practice deemed contrary to animal welfare.

After years of twists and turns, justice has ruled. This Monday, the Council of State considered that the hunting of the glue endangered the birds indiscriminately, and should therefore be prohibited. This so-called “traditional” hunting method is used in five departments in the south of France, namely Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse and Var.

Intended for thrushes and blackbirds, it consists of trapping birds on stems coated with glue, called glues.

The birds thus captured are put in cages and serve, by singing, to attract others for the hunters.

An extremely controversial practice, at the heart of a long controversy that divides French society.

Several times, the courts had been seized by environmental associations with the aim of canceling government decrees which authorized this practice by way of derogation on the grounds of tradition.

"An attack on Provençal traditions"

"It's a scandal to ban this hunting," says Patrice, reader of

20 Minutes

, offended

.

I often accompanied my brother who practiced this hunt. The birds do not suffer and are cleaned quickly. But we gave in to the fundamentalism of certain environmentalists. "" It is undoubtedly an attack on Provençal traditions and by this means an attack on hunting in general, estimates Gérard, another reader of

20 Minutes

. You should know that this mode of hunting is very supervised, subject to very reduced constraints and quotas! "

“Is it really that ecology, asks David.

Prohibit an ancestral practice which takes a few birds per year or authorize excessive urban planning by the sea which eliminates hundreds of hectares of nesting grounds?

"" Soon all the traditions of our beautiful country will disappear because of people who do not understand anything about rural life, forecasts Adrien.

It's so sad.

"

"The Minister wants the death of the slime hunt"

“For years, the courts have had nothing to say about this hunt,” recalls Eric Camoin, president of the national association for the defenses of traditional thrush hunts.

Three quarters of the glue hunters are in the villages and in senior citizens' clubs.

This is the reality.

The Council of State is incompetent, because it has yielded to the lobby of the Minister of Ecology who wants death the hunt for glue!

"

This fight has been carried out for a long time by associations for the defense of the environment and the protection of animals, which denounce a method considered cruel and non-selective.

On Twitter, the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili hailed "a breakthrough for biodiversity", when the bird protection league published a video on "the intolerable reality" of this practice.

📢 It's the end of the hunt for glue des🐦 in France!

🎉



The @Conseil_Etat followed the Court of Justice 🇪🇺 and has just annulled the latest ministerial decrees, thus confirming that glue trapping is illegal 💪


more info ▶ ️ https://t.co/YdRMBqhmdthttps:// t.co/dgIR7ir696

- LPO France (@LPOFrance) June 28, 2021

"Local traditions have a good back"

“Local traditions have their backs, plague Marc, a

20-minute

reader

. In Rome, circus games were also a tradition! "This barbaric practice, in the name of local traditions, is a cruel and sadistic attack on life", abounds Jean-Claude, another reader. “I come from a Provencal family and I have never heard anyone in my family talk about hunting with goo, says Didie. And no one missed it; AFAIK. These horrible practices from another age do hunters no credit! "

"This practice makes the animal suffer for the sole purpose of using it to kill others," says Chloe.

Traditions can change.

You have to live with the times and not get stuck on old practices that make living beings suffer!

"It was time to show some courage," Laurent says.

Besides, how many people are involved?

A few thousand?

According to the Bird Protection League, so far in France, 5,000 glue hunters have captured around 40,000 birds each year.

Justice

Glue hunting declared illegal by the Council of State

Planet

Marseille: a dozen glue hunting stations vandalized in one night

  • Animal cruelty

  • Biodiversity

  • Provence

  • Hunt

  • Bird