Ruoms fox aggressive behavior prefect order withdrawn, Digi Mart USA News (Ruoms, Ardèche, France): In an article published on its website on November 8, the French newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré reported that Ardèche Prefect Benoît Trévisani had issued an order on November 5 to kill a fox showing “aggressive behavior” in Ruoms.
According to the document, the town hall had reported the presence for about ten days of a fox that bit the trousers of a resident in the La Soierie residential neighborhood. The prefecture had assigned a louveterie lieutenant, an official authorized to carry out wolf and fox control, to kill the animal.
The publication drew strong reactions, including from the Aspas (Association pour la protection des animaux sauvages), based in Crest in the Drôme department. On Monday on its Facebook account, the association asked the prefecture to withdraw the order immediately and instead call on a specialized wildlife care center, saying only expert veterinarians could assess the fox’s health and explain its overly familiar behavior.
On Tuesday, November 10, the Ruoms town hall and the Ardèche prefecture reversed course. In a statement, the prefecture said that after requesting an intervention by louveterie lieutenants for a fox with aggressive behavior in the La Soierie neighborhood, the town of Ruoms wished to reconsider its request.
Prefect Trévisani acknowledged this and withdrew the prefectoral order issued for that purpose. The prefecture noted that under the mayor’s police powers, public safety within the commune falls under the responsibility of the municipality.
Animal welfare group One Voice also responded, asking why the answer should be death rather than education and efforts to reassure residents who are often poorly informed about foxes, while sparing the animal. The article’s reporting and the statements quoted are attributed to the original publisher; the claims have not been independently verified.
