Six-Year-Old Shot: Hobby Hunter Faces Trial
As people continue to be injured or killed during recreational hunts, animal welfare organizations are calling for a legal ban on hobby hunting as the trial gets underway.
A six-year-old girl was shot and critically injured in a nearby allotment garden area in the Greiz district.
Shot from Harvest Hunt Strikes Child
Axel Gerd J. had participated in a harvest hunt in a rapeseed field together with 6 hobby hunters in July 2018. During such hunts, hobby hunters wait while harvesting work is underway for startled wildlife to come within range of their shotguns.
The wildlife killer had to appear in court for the first time on Tuesday, September 14, 2021, at the Gera District Court. The girl was struck by the shot in the hip while in a nearby garden area. The projectile hit the child on the left arm, then pierced her hip — life-threatening injury, emergency surgery!
Girl Was Temporarily Dependent on a Wheelchair
The hunting accident was foreseeable and preventable, according to the prosecution. The girl remains severely impaired to this day due to her serious injuries and must take painkillers.
How many more people need to be seriously injured or killed before hobby hunting is finally banned? Year after year, numerous tragedies occur because trigger-happy hobby hunters shoot around irresponsibly. It is high time for politicians to step in.
Nadja Michler, wildlife policy expert for wildlife at PETA
Around half of Germans reject hobby hunting
Recreational hunters kill more than five million wild animals every year in Germany; serious hunting accidents also occur time and again. A representative Forsa survey from 2018 confirms that approximately half of the population — 49 percent — opposes recreational hunting. The more than 390,000 hobby hunters in Germany are faced with only around 1,000 professional hunters, primarily forestry workers.
Recreational hunting is unnecessary from a wildlife biology perspective
Recognized experts confirm that recreational hunting is not necessary from an ecological standpoint. According to renowned biologist Prof. Dr. Josef Reichholf, wolves, for example, do not need to be replaced by human hobby hunters, since animal populations living in forests regulate themselves through environmental factors such as weather, food availability, and disease. The Canton of Geneva — where recreational hunting has been banned for over 40 years — is just one example of this. Here, nature regulates itself primarily on its own. The result: high biodiversity and healthy, stable wildlife populations.
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