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Practice on Sunday, alcohol offense ... The government must present its hunting plan

2023-01-09T08:19:29.123Z


The Secretary of State for Ecology, Bérangère Couillard, presents this Monday the decisions of the government to better regulate the practice.


After several months of debate, the government is announcing its decisions on Monday to better secure the practice of hunting and reduce the number of accidents.

But hunters and anti-hunting activists seemed to believe a Sunday ban is out of the question.

The Secretary of State for Ecology, Bérangère Couillard, presents the arbitrations of the government following a meeting with the agents of the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB).

The latter issues permits in France and participates in the hunting police.

Read alsoA blood alcohol offense on the hunt soon?

The government's plan to fight accidents

According to his figures, the number of hunting accidents has been on a downward trend for 20 years.

Nevertheless, for the 2021-2022 season, the OFB recorded 90 accidents (bodily injuries linked to the use of a hunting weapon), compared to 80 the previous season.

Among them, eight fatal accidents, including two with non-hunter victims.

Again this weekend, an 84-year-old hunter who stored his weapon in his car accidentally killed himself in Haute-Corse.

Despite a favorable opinion, no day should be sanctuary

The most radical idea resulting from the consultation carried out in recent months is the creation of a day, or at least half a day, without hunting at the national level.

According to an Ifop poll conducted in mid-December among 1,000 people for various environmental protection associations, 78% of them were in favor of a "non-hunted Sunday" (2.5 points of margin of error) .

But this ban, which was not "taboo", according to Bérangère Couillard, no longer seems to be on the agenda, according to several sources who participated in the latest discussions.

Preparing the ground, a government source confided last week that “nothing at the statistical level indicates that Sunday is a more accident-prone day than the others”.

This argument has already been mentioned by hunters and by certain deputies such as the senator of Ain Patrick Chaize.

"Preventing hunting on one day would result in a carryover to other days and therefore not limit hunting activity and risk," he said.

Read alsoUp to 1000 euros a day: hunting in Île-de-France, a flourishing business

Willy Schraen, the boss of the hunters, said Thursday that he could not imagine "a single second" of a Sunday without hunting, believing that this would put rurality "on fire and blood".

"We must share access to nature and it is not discussed just between Emmanuel Macron and Willy Schraen, who prides himself on having an open table at the Elysée", the seat of the Presidency of the Republic, castigated Sunday the new boss of the Greens, Marine Tondelier, on France Inter.

Alcohol offence, refresher course every ten years, tougher penalties, mobile application...

Among the tracks selected, and which collect the assent of the hunters, the government should establish an offense of alcoholism, like what is done for motorists.

This measure is considered "derisory", despair the leaders of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO).

Other possible decisions: better practical training, with in particular the “ten-year refresher course” for hunters, which reminds them of the principles of safety and has so far mainly focused on theoretical elements.

After an accident, the sanctions could be toughened.

To better inform residents and walkers, a mobile application whose outlines are still vague should also be created to list the hunting areas... or non-hunting areas.

But none of this meets the hopes of the anti-hunting camp.

Former actress Brigitte Bardot, fervent defender of animals, wrote to Emmanuel Macron to accuse him of being "a puppet" of hunters.

"If the hunting safety plan was ultimately limited to a few measures such as the ban on hunting while intoxicated (it's still the least of things!) or the idea of ​​a mobile application so that volunteer hunters point out, the government will greatly disappoint the 4 out of 5 French people who would like a Sunday without hunting, ”says Matthieu Orphelin, director general of the LPO.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2023-01-09

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