In Haute-Savoie, the fate of the ibexes of the Bargy massif crystallizes the tensions in the region. The prefect of the department decided the mass slaughter of this protected animal but likely to transmit the brucellosis disease to farms. The case was taken to court.
For 10 years, the French authorities have been fighting against the reappearance of brucellosis in cattle farms in the Alps. Common bacterial disease, this is called a zoonosis: it can be transmitted to humans (this is Malta fever) by consumption of raw milk foods in particular.
If the disease has been eradicated from French farms, in the Bargy massif, the ibexes, now contaminated, can transmit the bacteria to the cows they meet in the mountain pastures in summer. After a first case in a herd in 2012, a second was declared last October.
The prefect has decided on a massive slaughter of ibexes. A decision decried by the protectors of the environment, because the animal is protected. Seven organizations therefore took the case to court. The suspensive summary hearing takes place this Wednesday, May 11.