There are too many of them, and they are predators and pests: The European rabbits on the lawns of the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris have been ordered to leave the historic architectural monument, following a police decree issued on January 10. The Police Prefecture believes the presence of the 250 to 300 rabbits on the site is causing "deterioration of the gardens, pipes and flora" and a collapse of part of the ground caused by "the spreading of underground tunnels." The cost of the damage is estimated at €366,000. As a result, since January 25, the unwanted animals have been captured and released on a private estate outside Paris in Bréau. The six operations scheduled until February 29 are likely to continue if the decree is renewed.

On February 14, activists from the Paris Animaux Zoopolis (PAZ) association took up the cause of the small mammals. Their faces hidden behind plastic rabbit masks and armed with posters, they stationed themselves on Rue de Grenelle, at the northern entrance to the Musée de l'Armée. PAZ denounced the "opacity" of capture operations and a "violent" procedure that can cause the death of some animals due to stress. Activists are also concerned about the location where the rabbits are released. The headquarters of the Seine-et-Marne hunting federation is located in the area. "They'll be driven out sooner or later, it's just a question of when," said Amandine Sanvisens, the association's co-founder.

Since 2018, the Association for the Protection of Animals in Urban Environments has been systematically attacking Paris Police Prefecture orders aimed at classifying the Oryctolagus cuniculus (European rabbit) as a species likely to cause damage and therefore to be hunted. In 2021, the Paris Administrative Court temporarily prohibited soldiers at the Hôtel des Invalides from killing them. Although the colony of rabbits is considered the second largest in Paris, after the Bois de Boulogne, the species is in decline. Since 2017, it has even been considered near-threatened in Europe and in danger of extinction worldwide, according to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle.

While the origins of the current colony are unknown, the rabbits of Les Invalides have already made history. During the Second World War, a Resistance network was established at the foot of the dome that houses the tomb of Napoleon I and whose golden silhouette overlooks Paris. Georges Morin, a veteran and member of the Resistance, lived in the building with his wife, Denise, and daughter, Yvette. Between 1942 and 1944, the family hid Allied airmen, before transferring them with false papers to Spain and England. Denise, who raised rabbits to feed the airmen, was nicknamed "Mammy Rabbit" by them. The family was eventually arrested by the Gestapo on July 5, 1944, and deported. A plaque still commemorates their actions.