Hobby hunter shoots horse again

According to reports, the hobby hunter believed he had spotted a wild boar in a meadow and fired a shot.

However, he hit a horse. According to a newspaper, the man subsequently turned himself in. The authorities are investigating. The responsible firearms authority is also investigating the incident and possible consequences.

Similar hunting accident just months ago

A similar case of mistaken identity occurred just a few months ago in Oberschönau, also in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district. A hobby hunter fired from a raised hide at what he believed to be a stag, hitting a horse instead. The animal was standing behind several trees and died after the shot. That shooter also reported himself to the police.

The IG Wild beim Wild points out that hobby hunters injure several dozen people every year, or in individual cases kill them, and cause considerable suffering to hundreds of thousands of animals through stray shots. The animal rights organisation calls on politicians to enact a ban on recreational hunting. Furthermore, the responsible shooter must have his hunting licence and firearms ownership card revoked immediately.

In recent years, numerous serious hunting accidents have already caused outrage. As recently as May, a hobby hunter attempted to kill a fox in Aholming and struck the wall of a residential building. The rifle bullet landed in the bedroom under the residents' bed. In early April, a hobby hunter fired into the wall of a company's break room; in January, a female jogger in Saxony was shot during a driven hunt. In mid-November, a hobby hunter in Thuringia injured 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.

Recognised studies confirm that, from an ecological perspective, there is no necessity for hunting. According to renowned biologist Prof. Dr. Josef Reichholf, the natural regulation of wildlife populations living in forests occurs through environmental factors such as weather conditions, food availability, and disease. British experts likewise concluded that fox populations in particular self-regulate 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 within a population are thus rapidly offset — or even overcompensated — through offspring and immigration. Hunting is unnecessary, counterproductive, and cruel.