The Ministry of Agriculture has a list of mammals and birds which are considered "nuisible" and may be trapped, shot and hunted outside the season of the chasse. These include foxes, martens, weasels as well as jays, magpies and crows. It has been decided to remove these from the list in certain departments, at the recommendation of the local prefect.
The decision has re-ignited the debate between agriculteurs and the "ecolos". The problem seems to be that while these mammals take hens, they also control lower species such as rats and mice and therefore have their place in the ecological hierarchy, but when it's your hens (and your living) you may have a different point of view. The birds can cause considerable damage to fruit crops (eg our cherries) and yet can control populations of smaller birds as well as some small mammals.
Sadly, here at Mas del Sol it is our hens who are nuisible having eaten most of the strawberries, causing us to net our tomatoes and grapes. They seem, however, quite immune from M Renard and his like.
Val adds to Malc's post - we have lost too many hens to foxes to be blasé, if we were not vigilant Mr Fox would slink in
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