Bouygues trial in Orléans: Five years suspended and €750,000 fine sought for poaching of protected species
The prosecutor in Orléans has sought five years in prison with suspension and a €750,000 fine against billionaire Olivier Bouygues, tried for destruction of protected species in Sologne.
Severe recommendations against Olivier Bouygues at Orléans criminal court
According to france3-regions.franceinfo.fr, the public prosecutor for Orléans, Emmanuelle Bochenek-Puren, sought on Tuesday 8 October a sentence of five years imprisonment with simple suspension and €750,000 in fines against Olivier Bouygues, tried for unlawful destruction of protected species. The fine amount corresponds to the legal maximum, retained "in view of the financial situation of the defendant". The billionaire would also be prohibited from any agricultural or livestock activity for five years.
The trial, held on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 October at Orléans criminal court, also concerns five employees of the Fontenaille estate, a 600-hectare property in the Loire region belonging to Olivier Bouygues, in Sologne. They are all being prosecuted for unlawful damage, in organised bands, to the conservation of protected species.
Sentences sought for the five co-defendants
For the five employees — current or former gamekeepers and estate managers — the prosecutor sought sentences ranging from one to four years imprisonment with suspension, accompanied by various fines. The charges against them include raising wild boar without authorisation, hunting outside legal hunting seasons, trapping using prohibited devices and possession of weapons without authorisation.
"A system of destruction and incentive"
Emmanuelle Bochenek-Puren opened her closing statement by emphasising the abundance of "material evidence" gathered during the search of the Fontenaille estate, carried out on 4 June 2025. The investigators notably discovered a burial pit "with carcasses or remains of protected species", a hunting log "and premium sheets mentioning protected species", as well as an inventory of protected animals killed over an entire year.
The magistrate described "a system of destruction, elimination and incentive", the objective of which was to "preserve the hunting parties regularly organised on the estate by removing predators of small game". She noted that five of the six defendants had acknowledged, during their police custody in summer 2025, having destroyed protected species, and that the estate manager as well as the gamekeepers had admitted having been paid to kill pests, among which were protected species: grey herons, common buzzards, great cormorants, wildcats and hedgehogs.
Bouygues alone denies any involvement
Olivier Bouygues is the only defendant to contest any participation in or knowledge of the facts he is accused of. For the past year, the co-defendants have retracted their initial statements regarding his involvement. One of them had nonetheless stated to investigators that "Olivier Bouygues is completely informed of the practices", before retracting this at the hearing.
The prosecutor said she did not believe the billionaire's version, which claims he "delegates and trusts" his employees without concerning himself with details. "Trust does not exclude oversight, delegating is not exculpating oneself," she stated. She also emphasised that, despite changes in staff over the years, "the only constant" at Fontenaille during twenty years of hunting protected species "is Olivier Bouygues as the person responsible on the estate". The employees find themselves, according to her, "in a state of absolute subordination to their employer".
Seventeen civil-party associations, ecological damage valued at €756,787
Before the prosecution's closing statement, the lawyers for the civil parties had also firmly implicated the defendants, whilst acknowledging the admissions of certain gamekeepers and the estate manager. In total, 17 associations — environmental and hunting associations — had joined as civil parties before the trial opened. All deplore "the considerable environmental and ecological harm" which the six defendants allegedly caused.
The Bird Protection League (LPO) estimates at approximately 220 protected animals shot each year between 2019 and 2025 by Olivier Bouygues's employees on the estate. "This is a minimum estimate, based on the documents in the case file and the statements of the defendants," said Jérôme Graefe, counsel for the LPO.
The association has developed a system for assessing the ecological damage caused by the destruction of a protected animal, according to criteria of rarity, impact on animal populations and the efforts made by society to protect the species in question. This calculation results in total damage of €756,787.50 for six years of destructions on the Fontenaille estate. Seven environmental protection associations — including One Voice and the Athenas centre — commit to sharing equitably these funds to finance "environmental" repair operations: acquisition of land near Sologne intended to serve as a refuge for species destroyed at Fontenaille, as well as protection, reintroduction and scientific monitoring programmes.
"An industrial system of destruction"
For Graefe, this is not about isolated killings but "repeated destructions over a period of time". Counsel Laure Abramowitch described the facts as a "industrial system of destruction of protected species": "There are production targets: quality game and quantity is needed so that each guest can leave with their hunting trophy. That's not managing an estate, that's exploiting it for recreational purposes, and eliminating anything that can get in the way. That's called caprice."
Coline Robert, counsel for three associations, also referred to "cruel practices", recalling that the investigation revealed a heron killed by blows from a stick and the use of prohibited traps. The verdict is expected at the end of October.
Source: Google News LU FR