Whether it’s game or a protected species, the Alpine ibex is above all symbolic of a division between two concepts, one defended by hunters and the other by environmentalists.
Naturally placid, due to excessive hunting the Alpine ibex almost became extinct in France in the 1960s and was made a "fully protected species". But today their numbers have recovered and hunters in Savoie and Haute-Savoie, who feel that certain Alpine ibex populations have reached saturation point, want the ban on hunting them to be lifted.