Dove hunting is not permitted for the 2020-21 season. The Council of State suspended an August 29 order on September 11, 2020, authorizing the firing of 17,460 turtle doves from the woods.
The Council of State suspended the hunting of the wood turtle dove for several reasons:
the species has declined by almost 80% in 15 years;
experts (representatives of the national federation of hunters and the french biodiversity office) recommend that it be banned;
France is a signatory to the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) for which the signatory States have prepared a
international plan of action for the conservation of turtle dove
in 2018;
the quota of 17 460 levies set this year, slightly lower than last year's quota of 18 000 levies, was determined only because of the observation of a trend decline in the european population over the past decades. Such a finding should have led the Government to prohibit such hunting, and not to reduce proportionately the maximum quota of levies.
