France: An End to Hunting Accidents
State sued by two associations for inaction over hunting accidents. Homicides, serious injuries, shots fired at houses, cars ... Every year, hunting in France leads to a series of tragedies and represents a serious safety problem for the 98% of French people who do not engage in this leisure activity.
Lawsuit for culpable inaction
The Association pour la protection des animaux sauvages (Aspas) and the collective Un jour un chasseur filed a lawsuit in court on Tuesday, October 10,.
Their aim is to make recreational hunting safer in order to prevent accidents.
The two associations are calling for, among other things, a restriction on the permitted days on which recreational hunting may be practised, particularly at weekends, stricter training for hunters, and a uniform set of regulations for all départements.
70% of accidents at weekends
“Given the inaction of the government, which announced a hunting plan in January that is wholly inadequate, we had to go further and sue the state for culpable inaction, because it has the facts and the solutions are being handed to it. These are solutions found among our European neighbours, where there are not nearly as many accidents,” says Mila Sanchez.
“One only needs to look at the statistics: over 70% of accidents and incidents occur at weekends.”
Mila Sanchez, collective Un jour un chasseur
78 Hunting accidents in one season
According to the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), there were 78 hunting accidents during the 2022/2023 season. Six of them were fatal.
During the last hunting season, the share of offenses against non-hunters rose spectacularly, from 13% to 28%. Hobby hunters injured cyclists, hikers, mushroom pickers and Sunday walkers. Hobby hunters shot at horse riders, through caravans, at houses, schools, gardens, cars or pets.
According to a survey from December 2022, seven out of ten French people feel uneasy during the hunting season, a figure that has increased significantly over the years. It is completely unacceptable that in a free and democratic country like France, citizens hesitate or even give up going for walks in nature for six months of the year, out of fear of being shot or killed.
