Every year, at least 500,000 foxes are killed by shooting, trapping, or digging, largely due to their classification as 'Species Likely to Cause Damage' (ESOD), which lacks scientific basis. This chilling figure highlights an alarming reality: foxes are victims of these cruel practices on a large scale, in 88 departments to date.

Yet, foxes, beyond being valuable in and of themselves, play a major ecological role and are our allies: they regulate rodent pests that damage crops and carry diseases like Lyme borreliosis, thereby reducing agricultural losses, dependence on toxic products, and the spread of zoonoses. They also disperse plant species, eliminate carcasses, and are an essential link in our ecosystems.

The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Anses) confirmed in June 2023 that no health-related reason justifies keeping them on the ESOD list. France has been rabies-free since 2001 thanks to vaccination. Fox populations self-regulate: their elimination is ineffective and counterproductive.

Examples from Luxembourg and Geneva show that stopping their hunting leads to neither overpopulation nor ecological imbalance. In France, their status responds solely to pressures from the hunting world, ignoring scientists' opinions and the opposition of over 70% of citizens.

Keeping foxes on the ESOD list is an ecological, political, and social aberration.

With the massive collapse of biodiversity, 2026 should be a pivotal year for enhanced species preservation. It must not be the year of renewing the triennial decree keeping foxes on the ESOD list, in total contradiction with legal data, scientific evidence, and societal expectations.

Animal Cross, Aves France, ASPAS, Focale pour le Sauvage, FERUS, Pôle Grands Prédateurs, and One Voice jointly call on the Ministry of Ecological Transition to end the classification of foxes as 'ESOD'.

An official petition has been submitted to the National Assembly. The associations initiating this effort call for urgent citizen mobilization to stop the mass slaughter of these animals.

Together, let's protect foxes!

Every voice counts for them. To change the law allowing this deadly list, sign and widely share our petition to the National Assembly:

https://petitions.assemblee-nationale.fr/initiatives/i-4583

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