Call to ban marmot hunting in France as campaigners say they are ‘killed for fun’

Protests and petitions planned amid growing concerns over impact of climate crisis on numbers of Alpine rodent Animal rights campaigners are gearing up for protests and petitions aimed at persuading the French government to ban the hunting of Alpine marmots. Open season on the rodents, members of the squirrel and groundhog family, begins in September, a few weeks before they go into a long winter hibernation. Although the marmot is not a threatened species in France , its numbers are reportedly declining as a result of the climate emergency. Campaigners say they are opposed to them being hunted for fun. Pauline di Nicolantonio, the president of the Association for Justice for Savoie Animals (AJAS ), which has launched protests against marmot hunting for the last two years, said: “The question is a moral one. “When you tell people that hunting marmots is allowed in France, they are shocked.

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