Relentless tunnelers
Too numerous, predatory, harmful… The wild rabbits on the lawns of the Hôtel des Invalides, in Paris, have been ordered to leave the architectural complex, classified as a historic monument, following a prefectural decree of January 10. The Police Headquarters estimates that the presence of two hundred and fifty to three hundred rabbits on the site leads to “the deterioration of gardens, pipes and flora” and a collapse of part of the soil caused by “the multiplication of underground galleries”. The cost of the damage is estimated at 366,000 euros. Consequently, since January 25, undesirables have been captured, then released on a private estate in Bréau, in Seine-et-Marne. The six operations scheduled until February 29 are likely to continue if the order is renewed.
Defended tooth and nail
On February 14, activists from the Paris Animaux Zoopolis (PAZ) association took up the cause of small mammals. Their faces hidden behind a plastic rabbit mask and armed with signs, they stationed themselves on rue de Grenelle, on the Esplanade des Invalides side, at the north entrance to the Army Museum. The PAZ denounces the“opacity” capture operations, a process ” violent “ which can cause the death of certain animals due to stress. Activists are also concerned about the location of the area where the rabbits are released. The headquarters of the Seine-et-Marne hunting federation is, in fact, located in the commune of Bréau. “They will be chased away sooner or later, the question is when,” says the co-founder of the association, Amandine Sanvisens.
Species on reprieve
Since 2018, the association for the protection of animals in urban areas has systematically attacked the orders of the Paris Police Prefecture which aim to classifyOryctolagus cuniculus in species likely to cause damage, and therefore to be hunted. In 2021, the Paris administrative court temporarily banned the soldiers at the Hôtel des Invalides from killing the little animals. Although this colony of wild rabbits is considered the largest in Paris – after that of the Bois de Boulogne – the species is in decline. Since 2017, it has even been considered near threatened in Europe and in danger of extinction on a global scale, according to the National Museum of Natural History.
Main course
Although the origin of the current colony is unknown, the Invalides rabbits have already made history. During the Second World War, a resistance network was established at the foot of the dome which houses the tomb of Napoleon Ier and whose golden silhouette overlooks Paris. Georges Morin, veteran and resistance fighter, lived in the building with his wife, Denise, and his daughter, Yvette. The family hid Allied airmen between 1942 and 1944, before transferring them with false papers to Spain or England. Denise, who raised rabbits to feed the aviators, was nicknamed by them “ Mammy Rabbit ». The family was finally arrested by the Gestapo on July 5, 1944 and deported. A plaque still commemorates their action.