The French government plans to add two threatened mountain bird species – the rock ptarmigan and the capercaillie – to the list of protected, non-huntable species, environmental and hunters’ associations indicated on Wednesday. The capercaillie is in danger of disappearing from the Vosges.
“It is an expected step after all the victories, but very good news for mountain galliformes” – a family of large birds to which both species belong – Muriel Arnal, president of the One Voice association, told AFP.
“This is excellent news for these two threatened species and it is courageous on the part of the Minister [for Ecological Transition, Monique] Barbut to commit to respecting science and applying the law,” said Allain Bougrain Dubourg, president of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO).
The French government intends to classify the two species as protected and non-huntable following a consultation, according to One Voice, the LPO, and the National Hunters’ Federation (FNC), which for its part deplored the decision.
In early March, the Council of State had asked the government to suspend the hunting of the rock ptarmigan – also known as the snow partridge – for a period of five years, ruling that hunting was not “compatible with conservation efforts for the species,” whose numbers are continually declining.
The capercaillie, also known as the wood grouse, is the largest wild bird in Europe. It is emblematic in the Vosges, from where it has practically disappeared. A prefectural decree authorised a reintroduction plan, which was challenged by several associations as early as 2024.
The FNC, however, condemned “in the strongest terms” the decision by Minister Barbut, describing it as “a political and ideological token for her friends in punitive and extremist ecology”. In a press release, the federation argued that “the principle of adaptive management leads precisely to distinguishing a moratorium from a definitive removal from the list of huntable species”.
