Lark hunting: the Council of State validates the pantes method

The high administrative court had several times in the past disavowed the government, when it wanted to authorize this hunting in the departments of Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne and Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

But on the basis of experiments which were carried out in 2023 and 2024, the decision published on Friday now estimates that “the condition of selectivity” can “be considered satisfied”, that is to say that this traditional method does not lead to the death of too many birds of other species.

The Council of State still judges that the number of larks which could be captured for the 2025-2026 season, i.e. some 98,700, does not contravene the condition of “taking in small quantities” and the conservation of the species.

“Practices from another time”

“In view of the scientific knowledge available at the date of the contested decrees, the capture of the skylark using pantes, as it is regulated by these same decrees, must be regarded as constituting a selective method of hunting, allowing samples to be taken in small quantities and not compromising conservation efforts,” he asserts.

“The LPO (League for the Protection of Birds, Editor's note) is surprised by this decision of the Council of State, whose previous decisions have always contributed to advancing the protection of biodiversity,” the president of this nature defense association, Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, immediately responded to AFP.

“Naturally the LPO will file, in the days to come, a European appeal in order not to let practices from another time weaken the efforts to protect a species, which in France, is disappearing from the skies of our territories,” he added.

Conversely, the National Hunters Federation welcomed “a major step for the future of traditional hunts”.

“I am happy for the hunters who keep these traditions alive and for the preservation of this cultural heritage!” rejoiced its president, Willy Schraen, quoted in a press release.