RETRO 6/12. Bullfights banned by the courts in Pérols, giant tick in the Gard… the events that marked the region in June 2024

At the end of the year, Midi Libre invites you to rediscover the events that marked the region in 2024. Today, we look back at the month of June.

THE COURT BANS BULLFIGHTS IN PÉROLS: THE MUNICIPALITY APPEALS

The mayor of Pérols, Jean-Pierre Rico, appealed the decision on June 6, 2024. Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

While the municipality of Pérols had decided to organize a novillada on July 15, 2023, the municipal decision, attacked by the Radically Anti-Bullfighting Committee and the Anti-Bullfighting Alliance, was deemed illegal by the administrative court on June 4, 2024. The court considered that the bullfighting tradition had not enjoyed an “uninterrupted” character in recent years, the last bullfight having taken place in 2003 in the city. The administrative court of Montpellier thus confirmed the conclusions of its public rapporteur.

The same municipal decision had already been suspended by the interim relief judge in May 2023 and the bullfighting show had not taken place. The mayor of Pérols, Jean-Pierre Rico, appealed the decision on June 6, 2024. The case is to be heard in the Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal.

A GIANT TICK CARRYING THE CRIMEAN-CONGO HEMORRHAGIC FEVER VIRUS IN GARD

For the moment, no cases of transmission of this virus have been reported in France. Midi Libre

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A giant tick was discovered in the commune of Arrigas in the Gard during a butterfly inventory in mid-June 2024. Present in mainland France and around the Mediterranean for 2 to 3 years, the Hyalomma marginatum or striped-legged tick is potentially a carrier of a dangerous disease. Larger than regular ticks (up to 8 mm long) and with yellow-striped legs, this arthropod can carry Congo hemorrhagic fever, for which there is currently no cure or vaccine.

For the moment, no cases of transmission of this virus have been reported in France, which means that the common tick, which frequently carries the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease or the encephalitis virus, remains much more dangerous than the giant tick.

SCANDAL OF THE CHRISTMAS ARK SHIPWRECK IN BÉZIERS: THE PRESIDENT SENTENCED TO 12 MONTHS OF SUSPENDED PRISON SENTENCE

Azzopardi denied any wrongdoing, blaming the volunteers. Midi Libre

Noël Azzopardi, manager of the animal shelter l’Arche de Noël in Béziers, was sentenced on June 17, 2024 to a 12-month suspended prison sentence, with a permanent ban on keeping animals. The shelter, denounced by associations and individuals for its undignified conditions, was closed and fined 10,000 euros. A lightning investigation, initiated after multiple reports and a revealing video, led to the seizure of 127 animals in November 2023.

Despite damning accusations, including unsanitary management of the site and the sale of sick animals, Azzopardi denied any wrongdoing, blaming the volunteers. He was prosecuted for abandoning animals, mistreatment, illegal breeding and for not having declared his activity and his establishment. Described as an “unworthy death house” by One Voice's lawyer, the shelter operated under complaints that were often dismissed without follow-up. The conviction marks a brutal end for a structure that has long been out of control.

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