In a long-awaited victory for animals, authorities in France have officially outlawed hunting birds with cruel glue traps following a persistent fight to keep the practice alive.

Lady Freethinker (LFT) thanks the nearly 29,000 supporters who signed our petition to help end cruel glue trapping through a nationwide ban against the inhumane and outdated practice.

Chasse à la glu, a traditional French hunting method of putting glue on trees to trap birds, continued even after the European Union (EU) banned the practice in 2009. That ban allowed exceptions in cases that are “controlled, selective, and in limited quantities.”

But the the Conseil d’Etat, France’s governmental body that legally advises the country’s executive branch and serves as the supreme court for administrative justice, said in a statement that the agency could not prove that the number of birds being trapped accidentally was low or that the birds didn’t suffer serious consequences from being trapped, according to Connexion.

Glue-trapping has fallen under increased scrutiny recently, after the French Bird Protection League (LPO) produced undercover video evidence showing that the practice puts endangered species at increased risk.

The video evidence revealed that glue-trapping is not selective and is agonizing for birds, who are lured to the adhesive-covered branches and get stuck, with the possibility of dying as they desperately try to free themselves. Birds deemed “undesirable” are carelessly tossed aside and left to slowly die.

Birds who survive often sport injuries, including having their feathers torn or ripped off, according to The Guardian.

The disturbing footage and photographs prompted the European Union (EU) to threaten legal action and fines against France for continued noncompliance. In March, European courts ruled that France should change its laws allowing glue-trapping.

France’s highest appeals court subsequently ruled that the exemption that permitted glue-trapping in spite of the EU ban violates European legislation. Furthermore, the court determined the French government and French hunters’ federation failed to submit “sufficient proof” that birds other than the targeted species did not suffer from glue-trapping.

Lady Freethinker applauds this landmark decision, which stands to save more than 40,000 lives each year.

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dead trapped bird