The mayor of Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Arnaud Dumontier (LR), had banned hunting with hounds near homes.
On Friday February 4, the Council of State rejected an appeal in cassation requested by the Oise hunting federation, thus validating a municipal decree excluding hunting with hounds from part of the forest in the commune of Pont-Sainte- Maxentius (Oise).
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The mayor of Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Arnaud Dumontier (LR), had indeed taken this decision in 2018, prohibiting any pursuit of game within 300 meters of dwellings. It followed an incident, a deer at bay having landed in the center of the small town. The animal had been anesthetized and then brought back to the forest of Halatte. Hunters for their part have always contested the measure, believing that the mayor could not restrict the exercise of hunting with hounds in the forest.
The Council of State, invited to decide after decisions favorable to the mayor at the administrative court and then on appeal, considered that “the legislative provisions which govern the hunting police are not intended and cannot have the effect of depriving the mayor of the possibility of using, in order to respond to local circumstances, general police powers“.
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The latter was satisfied to obtain “three administrative court decisions which follow one another and which validate the decree» municipal. The Isarian hunters, through their representative Guy Harlé d’Ophove, say they take note of the decision, but want to “take the problem differently to unblock the situation“, according to remarks reported by France 3.
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