Germany: Recreational Hunter Commits Dog Murder and Is Convicted
A recreational hunter from the Vogtland region must pay around 1,500 euros in fines for killing an escaped dog. The district court in Auerbach convicted the 63-year-old on Wednesday on concurrent charges of unlawful killing of an animal, animal cruelty, and a regulatory offense.
A recreational hunter from the Vogtland region must pay around 1’500 euros in fines for killing an escaped dog. The district court in Auerbach convicted the 63-year-old on Wednesday on concurrent charges of unlawful killing of an animal, animal cruelty, and a regulatory offense.
To this day, Peter Irion (59) feels a pang in his heart when he thinks about the death of his dog Meddox. “We actually wanted a different one, but he came over and placed his paw on my shoulder,” recalls the self-employed promoter. It was love at first sight. “I was very attached to him – he was sweet and easy to care for, let anyone pet him, and obeyed every word,” he says.
Flashback: A Shot in the Forest
On 27 September 2016, the normally obedient male dog broke out of the property and ran into the forest. Along a hiking trail, he encountered several off-leash dogs out walking with their owner and romped around with the other dogs on an adjacent meadow. “Then suddenly a shot rang out,” is how Peter Irion describes the woman’s account. Five days later, forestry workers found the dead animal in the woods. It was determined that a bullet had passed through the dog’s hip. Meddox had lost a great deal of blood and had apparently also received a blow to the skull.
The Verdict
The testimony of a witness had contributed to the recreational hunter falling under suspicion, so that as early as September 2017 a fine of 2’000 euros was imposed on him for violating the Animal Welfare Act. Because he disagreed with this, he lodged an objection.
The judge, however, was convinced that the recreational hunter had shot the mixed-breed dog “Meddox” two years earlier in front of his red deer enclosure in Kottengrün. The judge fined the recreational hunter 80 daily rates of 19 euros each.
Other witnesses also testified that the defendant had already aimed his rifle at people. The verdict is not yet final. More on Crime and recreational hunting.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
