Hunting Accidents in Germany: PETA Demands a Ban

The 56-year-old was admitted to hospital with serious injuries.

PETA points out that recreational hunters injure several dozen people every year, and in isolated cases even kill them. In addition, they cause considerable suffering to hundreds of thousands of animals through missed shots. The animal rights organisation is calling on the German federal government to enact a ban on recreational hunting in Germany. Furthermore, according to PETA, the responsible shooter must have his hunting licence and firearms ownership card revoked immediately.

“Every year, numerous tragedies occur because trigger-happy recreational hunters fire their weapons around irresponsibly,” said Peter Höffken, policy adviser at PETA. “How many people and animals must still be injured or senselessly killed before recreational hunting is finally banned? To prevent further suffering, it is now up to the legislature to act. The authorities must also ensure that this hunter is never permitted to hold a weapon again.”

Accidents involving fatal shots and self-inflicted injuries are on the rise

In recent years, numerous serious hunting accidents have already caused outrage. As recently as June, a woman in Huglfing suffered a through-and-through gunshot wound to the thigh. In May, a recreational hunter attempted to shoot a fox in Aholming and struck the wall of a residential building. The rifle bullet landed in the bedroom under the residents' bed. In January, a female jogger in Saxony was shot during a driven hunt. In mid-November, a hunter in Thuringia wounded his hunting partner with a shot to the face. In early November, an 82-year-old farmer in North Rhine-Westphalia died after being struck by a shot while driving a tractor during a driven hunt. Last August, a 54-year-old man in North Rhine-Westphalia was hit in the head by a rifle bullet fired by an 83-year-old hunting participant. He had to be airlifted to hospital by rescue helicopter.

Renowned experts confirm: hunting is cruel and unnecessary
Recognised studies confirm that there is no ecological necessity for hunting. According to the renowned biologist Prof. Dr. Josef Reichholf, natural regulation of wildlife populations living in forests occurs through environmental factors such as weather conditions, food availability, and disease. British experts also concluded that fox populations, for example, regulate themselves based on food availability and social factors. Hunting, by contrast, destroys the age and social structures of animal populations, leading to increased reproduction among survivors. Losses in the population are thus rapidly offset or even overcompensated by offspring and immigration. Hunting is unnecessary, counterproductive, and cruel. The approximately 400,000 recreational hunters in Germany are matched by only around 1,000 professional hunters, primarily forestry officials.