Var set to ban hunting in communes impacted by forest fires

Officials in the Var department have become the first to prepare a ban on hunting in areas impacted by wildfires this summer. 

However, the ban will not apply to all animals or hunts. 

It comes after the French government said that it would give local authorities the power to implement hunting bans following devastating wildfires this year, and not coordinate a national policy. 

Local authorities will need to work together with departmental hunting federations to achieve a consensus.

A one-week consultation period is being organised in the Var with the commission départementale de la chasse et de la faune sauvage.

The group consists of farmers, hunters, and scientists, and is required before the decree is officially implemented. 

Exemptions for wild boar

The Var department is preparing to issue an order that “bans hunting in burned woodland areas,” officials said in a statement yesterday (August 19). 

It will come into effect from September 13 and last throughout the 2026-2027 hunting season.

It aims "to encourage small game to repopulate the burnt zones,” which includes the communes of Pontevès, Correns, Cotignac, Carcès, Montfort-sur-Argens, Châteauvert and Barjols. 

The ban does not extend to wild boar hunts (in the form of en battue or organised drives), which will be permitted without restriction in burned areas “in order to allow for continued control of the wild boar population in the department,” Var prefecture said in a press release, FranceInfo reported.

“These animals are indeed responsible for significant crop damage, particularly during the grape harvest season, and especially on farms located on the edges of the burnt forest areas,” the release added.  

Hunters accept order, petition demands wider ban 

The rules have been accepted by local hunters. 

“We accept this order; we negotiated with the prefect to work on it. It is only logical that the order is being issued,” said head of the local hunting federation Laurent Faudon to media outlet RMC. 

“We won't be hunting small game in the burnt areas, but there will be an exemption. If there is damage, we will carry out organised hunts, but we won't be doing a thousand of them,” he added.

Hunters are likely less keen on a recent call for a complete ban on hunting across nearly half of France’s departments. 

The Association pour la protection des animaux sauvages (association for protection of wild animals) has called for a full ban on hunting this autumn and winter in 44 departments impacted by wildfires, droughts, and heatwaves.

Added to this, a petition calling for a ban on hunting in wildfire-stricken areas had gained over 450,000 signatures as of Friday, August 21, and has been publicly supported by the association, which sent a registered letter with its demands to departmental prefectures. 

It has also asked for a general postponement of the opening of hunting season this September. 

Hunting groups have hit back at claims that the wildfires led to widespread deaths among wildlife, however. 

“We hear talk of millions of dead animals. People seem to think we’d see piles of burnt animals. That’s just a myth. Red deer, roe deer, and wild boars fled the fire zones very quickly,” said Régis Hargues, director of the Landes hunting federation, to RMC. 

Information on opening dates for each department will be made available here on the official hunting federation website. 

Any changes to hunting season will be made public by the government on this official website.