Overview

• Olivier Bouygues and three associates are under formal investigation for organizing the destruction of protected bird species, and a fifth associate was heard under libre audition.
• Prosecutors have officially summoned Bouygues to appear before the Orléans correctional tribunal in March 2026.
• The inquiry is co-led by the Office français de la biodiversité alongside the Orléans gendarmerie research brigade.
• A June search of the Domaine de Fontenaille uncovered dozens of carcasses of cormorants, buzzards and egrets as well as a densely stocked wild boar enclosure suggestive of illicit breeding.
• Major environmental NGOs plan to join the proceedings as civil parties to push for stricter enforcement of biodiversity protection laws.