Walked a morning route with indy for the last 4 plus years. This year a couple of white plastic paint tubs, suspended on sticks appeared, they have a spout at the bottom. They have grain inside and seemed to arrive with an influx of pheasants. OK bird feeders. These are placed next to road and paths.
So half 6 the other morning very dark indy doing what she does best routing out the rabbits, birds and deer with the attitude that if shes up everyone is up. Next thing I hear a little what I now realise is a metalic sound followed by indy yelping. Now she is a hard dog (life on the streets as a stray) and wimps at very little. It being a very dark morning I followed the cries to find indy, close to a white plastic bird feeder, stuck in what, at first thoughts were brambles. This is not her style she just ploughs through normally.
Feeling round her I found the snare wire round her front leg unhitched her and off she went fortunately unharmed. Went back in the daylight and am now the proud owner of the snare operating mechanism, couldn't get the wire out of the ground. Close to the snare was 2 bales of hay and a dead pigeon in between as the bait, guess they are after foxes.
I have 2 questions;
1 Are snares still legal in France, interestingly it hasn't been checked for a couple of days so what ever got caught in the trap was not going to have a pleasant end.
2 If they aren't legal should I report it to the marie bearing in mind its a very rural area and most of the blokes that work for the marie are hunters.
OK I Lied 3 questions. Do you think the bird feeders are related to the snare or is that just the hunters fattening the birds and the farmers hunting the foxes.
This is not a dig at hunters, personally I don't like it but its what they do and in the main do it legally and properly.
I can't imagine that even if the maire is a chasseur, that he would be happy with an illegal placement. Our maire lives next door to us and is a local huntsman but he is also very reasonable and listens. he supports our cat charity as he can see the way we operate and the benefits of regulating populations. Fortunately for us he can also see the best and most humain ways to go about things!
It's always worth discussing without accusing, live and let live etc etc
thanks for that Lynn, yes it seems its still legal its a mix between 3 and 4 catagorie. However not in a legal place being only about 3 or 4 metres from a small road. And to be honest I cant imagine for one minute that it has been ok’d with the marie. Still, I think i will photo it, google map print out of location and drop it in the maries at night unsigned lol
I don't think this type of trap (piege) is legal as it could equally damage a child/human.
Are these on your land? If so you have every right to remove them.
Take photos of the trap and any injury caused. Go to the Mairie and the Gendarmerie to 'porte plainte'. You could also try contacting the Fondation 30Millions d'amis,Fondation Brigitte Bardot and Fondation Assistance aux animaux.
Oh nasty. Glad Indy was unharmed and you come to that, let’s hope people don’t walk into them either. I will ask around here, that is in the Quercy Blanc area of the Lot, and see what I can come up with. A cautionary tale for us all I think. Thanks for posting that, better to be aware than blissfully unaware. G.