France reviews its hunting rules

The season for la chasse (hunting) runs from September to February. Over New Year, when there is less to do in the fields, many farmers and other locals pick up their guns and head out in search of sangliers (wild boar), hares or other game. To the unsuspecting rambler, the sight of a fully grown sanglier fleeing along a footpath can prompt surprise—or worse. The number of accidents caused by hunting each year has triggered an intractable row about the use of the French countryside.

Game-shooting in France is not, mostly, an elite pastime. Over 1.1m people have hunting permits, making it the third-most-popular sport after football and fishing.

Despite the powerful French hunting lobby, and a fringe political party that represents it, rules have been tightened. A law passed in 2019 obliges game-shooters to wear an orange fluorescent jacket. In 2021 France’s highest court outlawed the use of glue-traps to snare songbirds, in line with European practice. The government may now go further. Bérangère Couillard, the junior minister in charge, says there is “no taboo”. She will unveil more proposals on January 9th. 

One option would be to extend nationally a ban on hunting on Sundays that exists in some public forests. Green politicians want to outlaw hunting at weekends, on public holidays and in school holidays as well. Such ideas enrage chasseurs, many of whom also work during the week, and who accuse squeamish city-dwellers of imposing their values on everybody else.

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French hunters react angrily to drinking ban plan to reduce accidental deaths

Hunting lobby, which has support of Emmanuel Macron, claims its members are being ‘stigmatised

Officially 9% of hunting-related deaths and serious accidents are linked to alcohol or drugs. But critics say no study has been done on minor accidents and that the figure is certainly higher as tests are not carried out during the hunts but afterwards, mostly when police stop hunters driving home.

The FNC (National Hunter’s Federation) president, Willy Schraen, said local hunting federations were capable of policing their own members. “What right do you have to pick on hunters; a drunk guy on a bicycle is dangerous too,” he told French journalists.

“We are a little hurt by the way things are presented … implying that hunters are all inveterate alcoholics,” he added. “It’s brutal and stigmatising.”

The FNC has strong support from Macron, who halved hunters’ licence fees and hailed them as the heirs to France’s country traditions that were part of the national identity

France’s upper house of parliament, the senate, has made 30 recommendations to address issues with hunt safety and the threat to members of the public.

In their report, senators rejected public requests that hunting be banned at weekends or during school holidays when people are out walking. However. its authors said it was not normal that alcohol was not banned while hunting and their aim was to find a balance to avoid future accidents. “Even one victim is a victim too many,” they said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/05/french-hunters-react-angrily-drinking-ban-proposal-reduce-accidental-deaths

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Why hunting is becoming an election issue in France

There are about 1.2 million hunters in France, and together with their supporters and families, they could represent a pool of around five million voters

There are two main issues with hunting in France – animal cruelty and safety issues.

https://www.thelocal.fr/20211103/la-chasse-why-hunting-is-becoming-an-election-issue-in-france/

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Portugal outrage after Spanish hunters massacre 540 wild animals

« The animals were fenced in. They had nowhere to run. This was a massacre. »

Portuguese officials have expressed outrage at the massacre of more than 500 deer and wild boar in a hunting zone in the centre of the country.

According to the weekly Express, the event was organized by the Spanish company Saint Portugal Monteros de La Cabra, specializing in hunting parties in the Iberian Peninsula and brought together 16 Spanish hunters.

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