Aspas Doubs is worried. “The 2024-2025 hunting plan plans to kill a maximum of 600 chamois,” says Jean Chapuis, the association’s delegate in the department. “They were protected in the past. Today, they are destroyed in the name of ignorance and the interests of foresters and hunters who consider them harmful, despite the absence of proven and documented forest and agricultural damage. They pose no problem to our environment. »
“The interest is to protect them”
He estimates that their numbers are down nearly 30%. “Their destruction by the hundreds, every year, poses an ecological problem in our opinion,” says the naturalist. “We can estimate their population here at around 2,000. Their density is less than one mammal per 100 wooded hectares, well below our ecosystems' carrying capacity. Their natural growth rate is around 15% per year and the lynx, a natural and legitimate predator, regulates around 15% of populations each year. No destruction of chamois by humans is therefore legitimate. The general interest is not to persecute them but to protect them. »
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The Departmental Federation of Hunters of Doubs (FDC 25), thus attacked, provides its details and points out a gross error in the comments and in the figures put forward by Aspas and reproduced on the posters which it is currently distributing on its networks. “The samples are supervised by the State,” underlines Thibaut Powolny, environment manager at FDC 25. “Hunters make proposals each year which are evaluated by the Departmental Directorate of Territories and public and private foresters. After several meetings and a debate in the Departmental Committee for Hunting and Wildlife (CDCFS), made up of the prefect, agricultural representatives, scientists, wolf trappers and associations such as France Nature Environnement (FNE), the LPO and even Aspas, the range of samples is allocated. »
“440 chamois on average will be slaughtered”
The 2024-2025 hunting plan has defined a range between 425 minimum chamois and 594 maximum chamois to be taken, quantities below and above which we cannot go. “We have chosen to allocate a maximum of 478 bracelets, knowing that this rating will only be achieved at 80-85%, effective rate achieved each season,” specifies Thibaut Powolny. “In fact, we estimate that an average of 440 chamois will be culled. We are far from the 600 declared by Aspas. Their figure is misleading. We are not destroyers. On the contrary, we are part of an adaptive management process. Our maximum range estimate was lower than that used in CDCFS. »
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The FDC 25 doubts the other figures put forward by Aspas, in particular on the population of this species. “We cannot say how many specimens are present in the Doubs. We make the most precise estimate possible, taking into account the margins of error. Our latest count at the reference site revealed a decline in the number of chamois. The sampling range took this into account. Finally, contrary to Aspas' assertions, foresters and farmers report the damage caused by these animals. We cannot say that they do not do any at all or that they are negligible. »
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