Cluny French badger-diggingChampionship, 2008 : a useless,disastrous and cruel contest, unfairtowards local wildlifeOn 16th, 17th and 18th May, the French Badger-digging Championship is to take place in Cluny Saône-et-Loire.
Set in natural surroundings,the contest will involve hunting dogs whose "targets" are to be wild animals in particular badgers.Badger or fox-digging, called "Vénerie sous terre", consists of letting trained dogs into setts or dens, until they corner a badger or a fox;people then dig a trench with spades or whatever tools they fancy, until they reach the harassed and cornered animal and drag it out, usinglong-handled metal pliers.
Though the badger is still considered a game animal, it doesn't appear anymore on the national list of pests since 1988 ! In Belgium, thehunting of badgers is illegal since 1973 and the species has been protected since 1992.
The same statute is applied in Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece, The Netherlands and Luxemburg.The Badger is a patrimonial and fragile species, with a low reproductive rate and a slow renewal of its populations. In woodland habitat, ithelps regeneration by spreading various seeds (berries, nuts, acorns) and takes part in regulating small rodents in boom years. This speciesis noted by IUNC as requiring special attention as indicative of a balanced biodiversity and a proper functioning of vast environmental units.
The recent French governmental meeting (named the Grenelle de l'Environnement) has pointed at the loss of biodiversity as being one of themost worrying aspects of the worldwide ecological crisis.
The only object of this Badger-digging Championship is to have dogs competing as a hobby for only a few people without showing the leastgeneral benefit to the public.
Furthermore, this Championship is a stressful activity as far as animals are concerned, in so far as it is organizedright in the core of the badgers 92;' breeding season (from mid-January to the end of July)How to justify, by any means, such a "Digging Contest " taking place during the closing of the hunting season, when most species are deeplyinvolved in their annual breeding period, and require peace and quiet ? Badger or fox-digging should not be considered a "sporting activity".
No justification can be found for this kind of intervention on a patrimonial species, with such a low breeding rate and at the most importantperiod of its biological cycle.
The following Societies and Clubs dispute the holding of such an event and bid the Prefect ofSaône and Loire not to authorize it, considering it will have a devastating effect on localwildlife by disturbing many animals of various species and by destroying their setts and dens.
The fact that badger setts have been used for decades if not centuries, by successive generations and that they represent the one and onlyplace of birthing and breeding, bestows them with a most prominent part in the conservation policy of badgers.
At the planned date, badgerscubs are still not independent from their mothers: the destruction of setts has an even more devastating effect.
A certain amount of otherspecies, most of them fully protected by law, also take advantage of these underground facilities, such as the Wildcat, various species of bats,the Fox, newts and frogs, etc.
The preservation of these animals thus depends on the protection of their dens and setts.Watching wildlife in its natural habitats, accessing to scientific information and the pedagogy of conservation are attainable activities for mostof us and are much more educational as a means of making the most of and preserving wildlife than this cruel and anachronistic "huntingtechnique", which we, most definitely, condemn.Wildlife is a natural wealth. L's act together to protect our natural heritage
Coordination : FNE/CAPEN 71 : Thierry GROSJEAN 09 71 38 89 64
Courriel : thierry.grosjean5@wanadoo.fr
De nombreuses associations soutiennent d’ores et déjà cette action :
Action Nature - Agir pour l'Environnement - Alsace Nature - Association de Protection et Initiation à l’Environnement - Association Ornithologique et Mammalogique deSaône et Loire (AOMSL) - Association pour la Protection des Animaux Sauvages (ASPAS) - Association pour le Respect de l'Environnement - ATHENAS (Centre desauvegarde de la faune sauvage en Franche-Comté et Bourgogne Est) - Autun Morvan Ecologie - AVES France - Centre d'Hébergement et d'Étude de la Nature etde l'Environnement (CHENE) - CLAM (Collectif Libération Animale de Montpellier) - Collectif Anti-Corrida de Fréjus - Comité de Liaison des Associations pourl'Environnement et la Nature de Côte d'or (CLAPEN 21) - Comité de Vigilance et d'action pour le bien-être Animal - Comité Départemental de Protection de la Natureen Saône-et-Loire (CDPN 71) - Comité Écologique Ariégeois - Commission de Protection des Eaux, du Patrimoine, de l’Environnement, du Sous-sol et desChiroptères (CPEPESC Franche Comté) - Confédération des Associations de Protection de l’Environnement et de la Nature en Saône et Loire (CAPEN 71) -Connaissance & Protection de la Nature du Brabant (Belgique) - Convention Vie et Nature - Fédération Allier Nature - Fédération Jura Nature Environnement -Fédération régionale Franche-Comté Nature Environnement - Fédération Rhône Alpes de Protection de la Nature (FRAPNA) - Fédération Région Auvergne NatureEnvironnement (FRANE) - FERUS - Fondation Brigitte Bardot - Fondation Ligue française des droits de l'animal - Groupe d'Étude des Mammifères de Lorraine -Groupe d'Etude et de Protection des Mammifères d'Alsace - Groupe Mammalogique d’Auvergne - Groupe Mammalogique Normand - Groupe Mammifères de NatureMidi-Pyrénées - Haute Normandie Nature Environnement - Les Verts - Ligue Roc pour la préservation de la faune sauvage - LPO Franche-Comté - MELES - MeuseNature Environnement - Mouvements des Écologistes Indépendants - Nature Environnement 17 Oiseaux Nature - OUSIA, être(s) humain(s) sur la Terre -Patrimoine Nature (Belgique) - Rassemblement Anti-Chasse (RAC) - Robin des Bois - Saône Doubs vivants- Sundgau vivant - Serre Vivante - Sociétéd’Encouragement pour la Conservation des Animaux Sauvages (SECAS) - Société Française pour l’Etude et la Protection des Mammifères (SFEPM) - Sociétéd'Histoire Naturelle du Pays de Montbéliard - Société Nationale de Protection de la Nature - Veg'Asso
