This article can be listened to in the app ” The Morning of the World »
Arnaud Dumontier, mayor (Les Républicains, LR) of Pont-Sainte-Maxence (Oise), always remembers the exact time of important moments in his life. It’s his side “psychorigid”, he confesses. This October 31 at 2 p.m. h 32, a local reporter calls to ask him what he thinks of the deer shot in his town during a hunt over the weekend. The chosen one does not know. He discovers on social networks images filmed by the Abolissons la vénerie association today (AVA).
A deer, pursued by a pack of dogs and huntsmen from the Rally of the Three Forests crew, throws itself into the Oise to try to save itself. As the cornered animal tries to regain the banks, it is shot with two gunshots. The mayor is outraged by what he sees on the video: “It’s bullshit! »
Playmobil Character Collection
In March 2018, the city councilor had nevertheless issued a municipal decree prohibiting hunting with hounds within 300 meters of dwellings, as well as the killing of prey on the territory of his commune of 13 000 inhabitants. A measure adopted after a deer, tracked by the same crew, found itself in the shopping streets of the city on a Saturday. Arnaud Dumontier loves order ” above all “. On his desk sits a surprising collection of Playmobil characters representing the police, gendarmes and firefighters.
This year, a few days after the opening of the hunt, the mayor had met the president of the Federation of Oise hunters, Guy Harlé d’Ophove, and the hunters on September 28. “They promised to warn me in the event of an incident near the dwellings, but, that Saturday, they did not do it! », protests the mayor today. Guy Harlé from Ophove ensures that hunters “were not in his commune, but in the neighboring one of Beaurepaire” : “There was no reason to warn him. »
But, for the mayor of Pont-Sainte-Maxence, the waters in which one of the dogs threw himself in pursuit of the deer are indeed those of his city: “A territory is not just land, it’s water too”, he points out. On November 2, he filed a complaint for the third time against the Three Forest Rally.
Many messages of encouragement
And very quickly Arnaud Dumontier receives the support of some of his constituents. Less than a week after the incident, a woman stopped him at a market to tell him about it. At the PMU bar and in the streets of the city, there is talk of a courageous mayor against “a minority that thinks everything is allowed”. The chosen one receives many messages of encouragement, including from hunters assuring him that there are “lively” debates within the community.
You have 48.97% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.