The 'Stop Dérives Chasses' collective has called for a ban on the breeding and release of small game and waterfowl for recreational shooting in Wallonia.
The group, which counts over 75 associations intending to reform hunting laws, insists that game should be released only for scientific purposes and repopulation purposes. These releases should be "accompanied by habitat management that favours the natural repopulation of hunted species such as the grey partridge."
'Stop Dérives Chasses' highlighted that 9,000 pheasants and 5,000 ducks were imported into villages in the south of Belgium in 2021-2022. The collective condemns this practice, noting that it disrupts natural habitats because it is "one of the main factors explaining the decline in the number of slowworms and smooth snakes in Wallonia".
In a note on shooting and repopulation releases, the Department for the Study of the Natural and Agricultural Environment (DEMNA) stated that "at least 200,000 birds (partridges, pheasants, and ducks) were released annually in Wallonia before the implementation of the partridge management plan."
DEMNA clarifies that “releases for shooting involve freeing adult or sub-adult game animals in a territory to hunt them as soon as possible, without any real management objective.”
"Shooting releases involve releasing adult or sub-adult game animals into a territory to hunt them as soon as possible, without any real management objective," clarified DEMNA.
At least 64,500 small game animals were killed by hunters in Wallonia in 2021, according to the latest data that the Wallonia Department of Nature and Forests (DNF) shared with Belga. The same year, 30,000 waterfowl (ducks, geese) and 32,000 other game (woodpigeons, rabbits, foxes) suffered the same fate that same year.
In 2019, the number of small game animals killed was 111,000, waterfowl 44,000, and other game animals 40,500.
