The hunting of the great bustard, the largest wild terrestrial bird in Europe, has been officially banned in France. The ban, announced on October 6, removes the species from the list of birds that can be hunted. This decision follows a decree from September 3, 2026, which classified the great bustard as a strictly protected species. The new decree, published in the Official Journal, updates the list of species subject to adaptive management, a system introduced in 2018 to allow more flexible regulation of hunting compared to the previous fixed list of huntable species. The change means that the great bustard is now fully protected, with its eggs, nests, and breeding sites safeguarded from destruction or disturbance. Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, president of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO), welcomed the ban but called for broader protections. He noted that France allows hunting on 64 bird species, a third of which are in poor conservation status, with their numbers declining each year. The great bustard was added to the protected list in early September, along with the alpine ptarmigan, a mountain bird also facing a worrying decline. This marked the first time since 2009 that new species had been added to the protected list, highlighting the urgency of the situation. The decline of the great bustard has been described as "spectacular" by the LPO, with its population dropping by nearly 80% since 1960 in the Pyrenees region, particularly in areas like the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Luchon state forest in Haute-Garonne. Today, the species survives only in fragile populations in the Jura and Vosges mountains, with a small number remaining in the Doubs region. The decline is linked to climate change, which is reducing their habitat, as well as human activities in mountainous areas and the transformation of natural environments. Efforts to reintroduce the species in the Vosges were initiated in 2024, but the project was halted after nearly all reintroduced individuals died. Earlier, in 2022, a five-year temporary hunting ban was imposed by the Council of State. The French government, through Minister of Ecological Transition Monique Barbut, emphasized that the goal is to stabilize the great bustard's population and potentially see a recovery, although this remains a difficult challenge.