Gunshots in a Local Recreation Area
A stand-up paddler on the Aare near Lüsslingen SO is startled by shots fired by a duck hunter. The public prosecutor's office is investigating.
A stand-up paddler had the fright of his life.
He feared he was the target of a sniper. It turned out to be a duck hunter.
It happened on one of the last warm autumn days of the year, on a Monday at around 4 p.m.: a stand-up paddler is leisurely paddling along the Aare. He glides through a popular local recreation area between Lüsslingen and Grenchen in the canton of Solothurn. It is completely quiet — only the sounds of birdsong and the dip of a paddle in the water. On the bank, the paddler notices a woman with a small child sitting on a swing.
Then, out of nowhere — a bang! A terrifyingly loud bang. The man nearly falls into the water in fright. What was that? He watches as the mother takes the child by the hand and quickly disappears. Not another person in sight. The man turns around and paddles back to the starting point at Lüsslingen as quickly as he can.
Was it a sniper?
He was in shock, the water sports enthusiast later recounted. He immediately called the Solothurn Cantonal Police and filed a report.
The cantonal police looked into the matter — the mother had also come forward. A patrol was dispatched immediately, as media spokesperson Bruno Gribi told the «Sonntagszeitung», which was the first to report on the incident. At the scene, officers also apprehended the suspected shooter.
Ducks: yes — people: no
But it was not a sniper targeting people. It was a recreational hunter — more specifically, a duck hunter. Together with companions, he had been recreational hunting for ducks on the Aare. Further details were not available from the cantonal police, as the Solothurn public prosecutor's office has taken up the matter.recreational hunting for ducks along the Aare. Further details were unavailable from the cantonal police, as the Solothurn public prosecutor’s office has taken charge of the matter.
Hunting mallards, pochards, tufted ducks, and coots is permitted in the canton of Solothurn between 1 September and 31 December. However, only hunters holding a competency certificate and a hunting licence as well as a certified retrieval dog. Waterfowl may only be shot with shotgun pellets and from a maximum distance of 35 meters. However, the shooter must always ensure that no persons are put at risk.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
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.
