The funny poster campaign of the mayor of Baillargues against the proliferation of wild rabbits in Pays de l'Or

Les affiches contre la prolifération du lapin de garenne dans le Pays de l'Or placardées dans le parking de la préfecture. Midi Libre – C. S.

Sus aux lapins de garenne ! Avez-vous vu les affiches pour vous inciter à manger du lapin pour faire face à sa prolifération dans les plaines du Pays de l'Or ? 

The rabbit has become public enemy No. 1 in the plains of the Land of Gold. The damage caused to crops and infrastructure has been legion since it proliferated after the Covid pandemic. Regulatory measures, hunting actions, fox releases: nothing has been able to stop this proliferation. 

A scourge denounced by farmers

Faced with what market gardeners describe as a "scourge", Jean-Luc Meissonnier, the mayor of Baillargues, initiated a poster campaign. The goal: "To encourage hunters who no longer know what to do with rabbits to offer them to their neighbors and encourage residents to eat them!" He continues: "At one time, rabbit stew, when we didn't have hare, was on every table on Sunday. It was a sought-after dish at a lower cost. Everyone had their hutch at the bottom of the garden. Today we no longer eat rabbits, he laments, the memory of the mustard rabbit on his lips. The chosen one also gives the recipe for rabbit stew to make you want to cook it even more.

"Not against animalists"

"It's a nod to rurality", he explains -it again. Jean-Luc Meissonnier – who is no longer a hunter himself – had been the linchpin alongside Laurent Jaoul of the demonstration of February 11 to defend rurality. However, its poster campaign is not a remake of the quarrel between rural and urban dwellers. "I am not against animalists. I simply wanted to act after the meeting we had with the prefect in Mauguio on the damage caused to farmers in our plains but also to BRL, Oc Via, SNCF, Vinci…" The "warrens" dug by rabbits in the ground are the cause of subsidence of roads and embankment dangerous for infrastructure.

The posters were put up in the dozen municipalities concerned, from Saint-Aunès to Marsillargues, but also in Montpellier. If we do not know the amount of this communication campaign financed by the town of Baillargues, it is a safe bet that it will be talked about.