Sunday March 21, a young hunter of 22 years was killed shot in the head by another hunter during a crows regulation campaign in the Vosges. This drama echoes other fatal accidents that occurred during the 2020-2021 hunting season, which is drawing to a close:
The exhaustive toll of accidents is not yet known, but this first tally from the local press is already overwhelming, despite a year marked by confinements and the health crisis.
Made public every year in June by the National Office for Hunting and Wildlife (ONCFS), which was absorbed in 2020 by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), the results of hunting accidents testifies to a high level of risks associated with hunting activities. The 2019-2020 season has seen more accidents and fatalities than the previous one, although the twenty-year trend is downward.
In 80 to 90% of cases, the victims are the hunters themselves (men in their fifties, according to the robot portrait drawn up by the National Federation of Hunters), or the people who accompany them.
The vast majority of accidents are caused by improper handling of the weapon (the main cause of auto-accidents), followed by falls, carrying a loaded weapon and failure to follow instructions. the angle of fire (30 degrees in front of you to limit the risk of shooting at a neighbor).
Prohibition on certain days or in certain places
But cases, like that of Lot where an inhabitant was killed a few hundred meters from his home, recalled sad precedents and raised again the question of the ban on hunting on days when there is a lot of use of natural areas by walkers or other users.
From Manuel Bompard, MEP for La France insoumise to Julien Bayou, national secretary for Europe Ecology-Les Verts, several political figures have signed a petition calling for a ban on hunting on Wednesdays and Sundays. A day without hunting, Wednesday, had been established between 2000 and 2003 by the Minister of the Environment, Dominique Voynet. This measure was abolished by her successor, Roselyne Bachelot.
The petition, signed by more than 4,000 people, also calls for a strengthening of safety rules around homes, a major issue as urban sprawl puts more and more non-hunters within gun range. In Montpellier, the new municipal team decided to terminate agreements for the provision of public land for hunting associations, in order to protect residents from accidents. A first in a large French city, which could be followed by other elected officials, in particular by green town halls.