Hunting Accidents and Fatal Crimes Involving Hobby Hunter Weapons

The mounting recent reports of hunting accidents and fatal crimes involving hunter weapons make one thing clear:

It is high time to abolish recreational hunting!

Deadly firearms have no place in the hands of hobby hunters, who are able to use them in a completely uncontrolled manner!

13.9.2022 Hobby hunter shoots man in the head

Riccardo Morisoli from Tesserete was admitted to the civic hospital yesterday afternoon with a gunshot wound to the head. The unfortunate Morisoli owes his stay in hospital to a shot fired from a rifle by a clumsy hobby hunter who mistook him for game.

12.9.22 Hobby hunter shoots at harvesting machine — driver and four-year-old narrowly missed

This could easily have ended in tragedy: while hunting wild boar in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, a hunter hit an agricultural harvesting machine. Inside were the driver and his four-year-old son. Both were uninjured. There was anger nonetheless.

11.9.22 Hobby hunter aims at deer and hits local resident

A young hobby hunter suffered serious injuries on Saturday, 10.9.2022, in a hunting accident in the Poschiavo valley. According to the Grisons cantonal police, a hobby hunter fired a shot in the direction of a deer at around 7 o’clock in the morning.

In doing so, however, a young hobby hunter — a local resident — was shot and sustained serious injuries. The latter was airlifted by Rega helicopter to the Ospedale Civico in Lugano. The bullet did not reach the animal.

Since the hunting accident occurred on the Italian-Swiss border, the judicial authorities of both countries, in cooperation with the Graubünden cantonal police and the Carabinieri of Tirano, are working to clarify the sequence of events.

A civilian helicopter was requested to carry out the police investigation.

10.9.22: Shot from hunting rifle shatters window

A 22-year-old woman in Upper Austria had a very lucky escape: the young woman was in her apartment when a projectile from a hunting rifle suddenly shattered a window right next to her. This was reported by the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten on 10.9.2022. According to the report, a hunter had fired two shots at a deer approximately 700 metres from the residential building. The first shot missed the animal and struck the living room window on the first floor of the building at around 7:30 p.m.

9.9.22: Hunter fatally injured by gunshot

A 55-year-old hunter was found with a fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen/hip area in a wooded area near Hilpoltstein (Roth district). This was reported by the Donaukurier on 9.9.2022. According to the report, the huntsman had gone out hunting early in the morning. When he failed to return hours later, his family set out to search for him. They eventually found him lifeless with a gunshot wound and alerted the emergency services. The emergency doctor who was called to the scene could only confirm the man's death. Police are treating the incident as a "tragic hunting accident." "But exactly how the accident occurred can no longer be reconstructed," the Donaukurier quoted a police spokesperson as saying.

8.9.22: Fatal hunting accident

A hunter had set out on a multi-day hunting trip in the Bernese Oberland and had not returned. An extensive search and rescue operation was launched to find the missing hunter. His body was eventually found in Habkern, the Berner Zeitung reported on 8.9.2022. He had apparently fallen down a rock face.

6.9.22: Hunting accident: hunter shoots himself

A 52-year-old hunter apparently shot himself by accident. This was reported by SWR on 6.9.2022. According to the report, the hunter was in a forest near Ehingen (Alb-Donau district) with two hunting companions. For reasons not yet determined, a shot discharged from his hunting rifle, fatally striking the hunter. The two other hunters reportedly found the 52-year-old a few minutes later.

5.9.22: Hunter threatens wife – Special Operations Unit deployed

In Cuxhaven, a special operations unit (SEK) was deployed after an 84-year-old hunter threatened his wife. According to a press release from the Cuxhaven Police Inspectorate dated 5.9.2022, the 77-year-old woman had fled to her son's home following repeated physical assaults by her husband. Because the man, who suffers from dementia, had access to a number of loaded firearms and ammunition as a licensed hunter, a police special operations unit surrounded the residential property. The operation took place shortly afterwards — without incident. Fortunately, no one was injured. The 84-year-old hunter was taken into custody and subsequently referred to the social psychiatric service. His weapons, additional weapon components, and ammunition were confiscated.

5.9.22: Hunter almost shoots tractor driver

A hunter nearly shot the driver of a maize harvester in Bockenau in the Swabia region. This was reported by SWR on 5.9.2022. According to the report, several hunters had surrounded the field during the maize harvest in order to shoot wildlife startled by the harvesting machinery. In the process, a shot fired by one of the hunters accidentally struck the cab of the maize harvester just a few centimetres from the driver. The 44-year-old farmer reportedly suffered acoustic trauma. Police and the public prosecutor’s office in Bad Kreuznach are investigating on suspicion of negligent bodily harm.

1.9.22: Projectile strikes children’s bedroom

In Weilerbach in the Kaiserslautern district, a projectile — most likely fired from a hunting weapon, according to police — struck a children’s bedroom. The projectile penetrated the blind, window, and curtain before coming to rest on the opposite side of the room. This was reported by SWR on 1.9.2022. According to the report, the 49-year-old father of the family heard a loud bang late on Sunday evening in the Verbandsgemeinde Weilerbach in the Kaiserslautern district and later found the projectile in the room of his 13-year-old daughter. Fortunately, no one had been in the room at the time of the shot. Since the house is located on the edge of fields and woodland with several hunting stands nearby, police assume that the projectile came from a hunting rifle.

More on this in the dossier: Hunting and animal welfare

Hobby hunters — a natural disaster

In the chaos in which nature finds itself after decades of management and stewardship by recreational hunters, the share of threatened species is nowhere in the world as high as in Switzerland. For decades, these contract killers have been creating an ecological imbalance in the cultural landscape, with sometimes dramatic consequences (protective forests, diseases, agricultural damage, and much more). Over a third of plant, wildlife and fungal species are considered threatened. Switzerland also ranks last in Europe when it comes to designating protected areas for biodiversity. It is precisely these circles of hobby hunters, through their lobbying efforts in politics, media, and legislation, who have been responsible for this for decades. They are the ones who notoriously block contemporary, ethical improvements in animal welfare and sabotage serious animal and species protection. Hobby hunters regularly oppose more national parks in Switzerland, because their concern is not nature, biodiversity, species protection, or animal welfare — but rather the pursuit of their perverse, bloody hobby.

Did you know …

• that in Switzerland innocent young wolves are being liquidated?
• that hobby hunters lie about the assessment of game meat quality and that, according to the WHO, processed game meat is carcinogenic — like cigarettes, asbestos, or arsenic?
• that according to studies, nowhere is the lead contamination of golden eagles and bearded vultures higher than in the Swiss Alps, due to ammunition used by hobby hunters?
• that the fair chase ethics proclaimed by hobby hunters directly contradict animal welfare legislation and are nothing but a mirage?
• that hunting is war, where animal competitors are simply eliminated?
• that there are countless illegal and unmarked hunting stands in our natural environment, some so rotten that they pose a danger to children and could cause people to fall to their deaths?
• that year after year, countless people are killed or injured by hunters' weapons — some so severely that they end up in wheelchairs or have limbs amputated?
• that in Switzerland, around 120,000 perfectly healthy roe deer, red deer, foxes, marmots, and chamois are killed each year, mostly without purpose?
• that because of hobby hunters, it has become nearly impossible to live in harmony with wildlife or to even catch a glimpse of wild animals?
• that shotgun blasts make hares scream like small children, and tear apart the entrails of “shot” roe deer and red deer so that they leave a blood trail during flight for hunters to follow?
• that the claim made by hobby hunters that the cruel wildlife massacres are necessary to regulate animal populations has been scientifically refuted?
• that hobby hunters openly admit that hunting is about the “lust for killing” and “the joy of making a kill” — a pathological obsession?
• that hobby hunters do not possess a sixth sense, yet regularly claim they only shoot sick and weak animals, which in practice is simply not true?
• that hobby hunters travel abroad for trophy hunting, far removed from any species protection or hunting regulations, and that there are even Swiss hobby hunter travel agencies catering to such moronic hunting pleasures?
• that the vast majority are not legitimate professional hunters, but pursue hunting as a hobby, sport, and leisure activity, which is not morally justifiable and in fact contradicts the Animal Welfare Act?
• that 99.07% of civilized people in Switzerland are not hobby hunters, meaning only 0.3% of hobby hunters take pleasure in these bloody activities?
• that these wildlife killers do not hunt based on scientific justifications?
• that protected species do not actually belong under hunting law, because hobby hunters are ill-equipped to handle species conservation and repeatedly shoot animals listed on the Red List — such as lynx, wolf, hare, partridge, quail, etc. — for fun?
• that hobby hunters deliberately decimate certain animal species to eliminate competition for their unnatural behavior (fox, lynx, wolf, birds of prey, etc.)?
• that wildlife dies before the hobby hunter can even fire a single shot, that this is precisely what needs to be prevented, and that this is arguably the central idea behind wildlife stewardship, care, and hunting planning?
• that among wild boar (and foxes), normally only the lead sow produces young, but due to her being shot, all female animals within the group reproduce, and this is one of the reasons we have a wild boar overpopulation?
• that grazing animals — deer, roe deer, etc. — originally lived primarily during the day in fields and meadows, like goats, sheep, and cows, and not in the forest?
• that the wolf is vitally important for the long-term health of wild ungulates, because it preys on sick or weak animals with remarkable precision, for example, and is therefore far superior to hobby hunters?
• that foxes, after being senselessly hunted, mostly end up in the trash?
• that foxes are hunted today primarily so that there are more hares, etc. for hobby hunters to put in the frying pan? That foxes, however, feed on hares less than 10% of the time and would never catch a healthy hare?
• that in animal welfare, you cannot deal with hobby hunters through gentleness alone, street festivals, prayer chains, etc. (you need to fight fire with fire)?
• that hobby hunters use hunting tall tales to show disrespectful contempt for living beings?
• that it is frowned upon to shoot large game at feeding stations or during mating season, yet hobby hunters have no qualms about doing exactly this to their competitor the fox?
• that in some cantons hobby hunters go hunting solely for the tender meat of a young animal?
• that hobby hunters shoot pregnant mother deer in front of their young, or target only young animals during the rearing period (post-special hunt)?
• that hobby hunters poison the environment, nature, humans and animals with their ammunition?
• that bestiality, barbarism, cruelty, bloodshed and senseless suffering cannot be considered cultural heritage in a civilized society?
• that hobby hunters shoot approximately 10’000 roe deer fawns every year?
• that in harsh winters hobby hunters use food to lure starving animals only to shoot them in a cowardly and treacherous manner?
• that hobby hunters send attack-trained dogs into dens to eliminate foxes and badgers (earth hunting)?
• that hobby hunters lure peaceful creatures into box traps, where they may suffer for days awaiting their killer, or subject animals to a prolonged death struggle lasting many hours (trap hunting)?
• that hobby hunters cowardly ambush and shoot or wound peaceful wild animals while they are sleeping or sunbathing, using state-of-the-art precision weapons?
• that hobby hunters support awards, fur markets, prize ceremonies for trophy cults, trophy shows, fur trading, and so on?
• that hobby hunters place firearms in the hands of underage schoolchildren and practice killing with them?
• that hobby hunters often carry out their cruel acts in isolation, which encourages animal cruelty?
• that hobby hunters frequently seriously wound wild animals, leaving the victims to suffer for hours in tremendous pain and fear until a tracking dog finds them and they are shot?
• that hobby hunters (aside from vivisection) inflict the most suffering and abuse on animals, including through the manner in which they kill?
• that the hunter's love of animals and nature takes no joy in the existence of the beloved object, but rather aims to possess the beloved creature body and soul, culminating in turning it into prey through the act of killing?
• that hobby hunters actively promote browsing damage through hunting pressure, particularly on predators such as foxes, lynx, and wolves?
• that hobby hunters open the door to antisocial, unethical, and unchristian behaviour?
• that hobby hunters deprive the public of normal, natural wildlife observations and interactions?
• that there is no greater product of cruelty — and one contaminated with ammunition — than venison?
• that across Switzerland there is no uniform regulation regarding vision tests, shooting practice, and so on for hobby hunters?
• that there is no psychological character assessment for hobby hunters?
• that there is no alcohol ban for hobby hunters when they are shooting at animals with their weapons?
• that hobby hunters intrude into educational institutions to foist their hunters' tales and their culture of violence upon children?
• that a court in Bellinzona recently confirmed that hunting associations promote virtually everything that is cruel, unnecessary, and heartless?
• that the association «Jagd Schweiz» cultivates above all disrespect and a culture of violence — the exact opposite of what a civilised person in our society should aspire to.
• that in the canton of Graubünden alone, more than 1’000 complaints and fines are issued against hobby hunters every year?