Pyrenees: Trial over illegal killing of bear by recreational hunters
A French recreational hunter must answer in court for the illegal shooting of the female bear Caramelles in a nature reserve in the Pyrenees.
The prosecution charges him with killing a protected animal. The trial, in which 15 other recreational hunters are accused, also concerns non-compliance with hunting regulations.
One of the recreational hunters stated in court that the markings of the hunting area were difficult to recognise. "It is their duty to know exactly where recreational hunting is permitted," prosecutor Olivier Mouysset replied. The wild boar recreational hunters had partially entered a protected area near Mont-Valier in November 2021.
Mother bear attacked recreational hunters
The main defendant had initially discovered two bear cubs and was then attacked by the mother bear. She injured him on his legs and dragged him several metres across the ground. The man had to be airlifted to a hospital by helicopter.
"It was self-defence. Should he have done nothing? He saved his life," emphasised Jean-Luc Fernandez, chairman of the local hunting association, shortly before the start of the trial.
18 environmental organisations, including One Voice, Sea Shepherd and the Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux, are acting as co-plaintiffs. "They want the rules to be respected so that the environment suffers no harm," said lawyer Julie Rover. "Bears are endangered, and the death of a female is serious," she added. The trial concludes on 19 March 2025; the date for the verdict has not yet been announced. He faces up to three years in prison and a fine of 150’000 EUR. More on Crime in the context of recreational hunting.
Impermissible radio frequencies and lack of forestry supervision
The local hunting association argues that the driven hunt for wild boar was officially permitted there. However, the law requires that a representative of the forestry office be present at such hunts — on this particular day, however, none was on site.
There is an additional problem: the recreational hunters are alleged to have used unauthorized radio frequencies to coordinate with one another. An infraction that is also being prosecuted in court. The animal welfare problem of recreational hunting is also reflected in the failure to respect protected areas.
Bears were nearly extinct in the French Pyrenees at the beginning of the 1990s. The current population traces back to bears reintroduced from Slovenia. Their numbers are steadily increasing; in 2023, 83 bears were counted. As studies demonstrate, recreational hunting fails as a means of population control.
RECREATIONAL HUNTER RADAR
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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.
