The French are afraid of hunting
The
majority of French people do not feel safe in the countryside during
hunting season, as evidenced by this recent IFOP poll for ASPAS and
One Voice (1), from 12th
to 14th
September 2016. It confirms that 8 out of 10 French people want to
see Sunday become a non-hunting day, and reveals that 9 out of 10 are
in favour of a reform of the organization and regulation of hunting.
A
Sunday without hunting? The question does not divide! 78% of the
respondents are in favour (compared to 54% in 2009 (2)). This demand
is not driven by “urban ecological woes” so vilified by the
hunting world, but by 76% of the population living in rural areas.
Hunting
accidents remain a taboo subject in France. Yet no other recreational
activity than hunting poses such a public safety problem. This
weekend in Loire-Atlantique, a woman took a boar bullet in her thigh
while she was gardening. An accident that occurred during the opening
of the game hunting season which did not begin until the next day in
this department! Of the 71% of French people who regularly frequent
the countryside (several times a month), 61% do not feel safe when
they go out during the hunting season. Last year, nearly 2 out of 10
victims were not hunters. The death of Samuel (20 years old) in
Isère, then that of Gaël (43 years old) in Haute-Savoie had once
again underlined the difficult cohabitation of hunting with all the
other outdoor activities.
Since
1982, there is no longer a perimeter of security around homes (3). In
2003, the obligation of a national day without hunting per week was
abolished by Roselyne Bachelot. There is no regular evaluation of the
knowledge or physical abilities of hunters, nor is there any alcohol
tests during hunting: a laxity that the majority of French people
find unjustifiable.
It
is not surprising that today, 91% of our fellow citizens are in
favour of a reform of the organization and regulation of hunting to
adapt it to today’s society!
For
more than 20 years, ASPAS have been asking governments to take a
simple and democratic step in sharing the space between a small
million hunters and the majority of the population: the truce of
Sunday hunting. Did you say lobby?
One
Voice fights against the practice of hunting in France and around the
world, and has been campaigning for a Sunday without hunting since
its creation in 1995 under the sponsorship of Théodore Monod.
(1)
Download the results of the study
(2)
IFOP / ASPAS survey conducted in July 2009.
(3)
Excerpt from How to walk in the woods without getting shot “Since
the circular Deferre of October 15 1982 the Prefects are invited to
no longer prohibit hunting in a perimeter around houses, but to
regulate shooting in the direction of these dwellings. For example,
shots “within range” or within a certain distance (usually
150 meters) are generally prohibited in the direction of “dwellings,
tracks and public roads, railways and railway rights-of-way”.
power lines, airports, public meeting places and stadiums. In this
context, there is nothing to prevent hunters from leaning right
against a house and shooting outwards!”