The Council of State of France announced Monday that using glue traps to hunt birds would be banned in the country. France was the last EU member that still allowed the use of glue in hunting.
Animal rights organizations had long criticized the cruel glue hunting practice. Hunters would put glue on tree branches to catch thrushes and blackbirds, for food or as ‘sport’.
In March, the European Court of Justice said that using glue traps caused irreparable harm to birds who get stuck in them. The more the animals struggled in the glue, the more stuck and injured they would get.
“Finally, we’re turning the page on this hunting practice from another time and are entering the 21st century that is more respectful of the environment,” Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, head of the French bird protection league, told AFP.
He added that other “unacceptable” hunting practices still needed to be banned.
Animal rights organizations estimate that 150,000 birds die annually in France from hunting techniques such as glue traps and nets at a time when the countries’ bird population is declining.
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