Brinon-sur-Sauldre (France) (AFP) – Hunting ground for the wealthy, Sologne, the second largest forest in France, suffers from massive enclosure which encloses and weakens wildlife, even if a new law attempts to remedy this monopolization of nature.

Published on: 03/09/2026 - 11:49

The trial of billionaire Olivier Bouygues for poaching on his property in La Ferté-Saint-Aubin (Loiret), scheduled for September 7 and 8 in Orléans, testifies to certain illegal activities suspected behind the more than 3,000 km of fences which fragment and degrade this forest jewel.

Just a two-hour drive from Paris, its 500,000 hectares, 90% private, are home to one of the largest protected natural areas in Europe, divided up for decades by fences and barbed wire around around thirty large estates.

Raymond Louis shows AFP a municipal road that he nicknames "the prison promenade", lined with fences "2 meters high". He has been committed for almost 30 years with his wife Marie to "bringing down these iron walls and letting wildlife move freely", within the association Les Amis des chemins de Sologne.

These fences are intended to maintain an abundant quantity of game for hunting parties, he says. Even if owners see it as imperative to secure their property.

“Saint-Tropez of hunting”

“It’s not hunting, it’s shooting on live and trapped targets,” criticizes Raymond Louis, himself a hunter.

In his book "Les Nouveaux Seigneurs" published in 2024, the journalist Jean-Baptiste Forray evokes a "Saint-Tropez of hunting" where "barons of industry, show business and luxury" meet, citing among them "the Bouygues brothers, the Bich family, creator of the Bic pen, or even the Seydoux, owners of Gaumont-Pathé and the famous hairdresser Franck Provost".

According to him, these personalities, "attracted by the discretion" allowed in Sologne, were sometimes joined by political leaders, such as the president of the Senate Gérard Larcher, the UDR mayor of Nice Éric Ciotti or even the former president of the National Assembly Claude Bartolone (PS).

By January 1, 2027, owners have the obligation to comply with the law of February 2, 2023 on fencing, which limits the height of fences installed since 1993 in natural spaces to 1.20 m and requires a passage of 30 centimeters in height at ground level.

But on the side of "large owners, things are not rushing. We will have to put pressure", says the deputy of Cher François Cormier-Bouligeon (Renaissance), who defended the law with the senator of Loiret Jean-Noël Cardoux (LR) in particular.

Failure to comply with these provisions will constitute an offense punishable by three years of imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros.

“Omerta”

“It’s a tipping point: the law puts an end to this privatization of the forest,” considers the public prosecutor of Orléans, Emmanuelle Bochenek-Puren.

Several sources, however, evoke “an atmosphere of intimidation” in the region, around a “taboo subject”. It was also an anonymous denunciation which allowed the opening of the investigation into the property of Olivier Bouygues.

“There was a form of silence” for certain elected officials, admits the socialist president of the Centre-Val de Loire region, François Bonneau. But “today it is an issue for the survival of Sologne”, he believes.

Emmanuelle Bochenek-Puren underlines the essential “equality before the law” that must be imposed on “people who have very significant financial means”.

Not only do these barriers hinder the movement of animals but they also hinder the intervention of firefighters in the event of a fire. None of the Fire and Rescue Services (Sdis) contacted wanted to react. “Sensitive subject,” replied one of the interlocutors to AFP.

Another problem for the environment: the high concentration of game destroys the soil and encourages inbreeding. Some owners also bring animals from abroad, at the risk of importing diseases.

“The giant fluke, a parasite usually present in Eastern European countries, was observed in Loir-et-Cher” on a deer, a species not native to Sologne, notes Jean-Noël Rieffel, former regional director of the French Biodiversity Office and new departmental director of population protection.

He is particularly concerned about the risk of an epidemic of African swine fever in Sologne. “The question is no longer + is it going to happen? +, but + when? +”, he warns.

© 2026 AFP

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