The Walloon vice-president Willy Borsus, who is responsible for this case, has initiated a process to no longer grant equivalence to French hunting license holders. The low level of requirements for the French hunting license exams explains the distrust of the Walloon authorities. In Wallonia, there are no recent statistics on hunting accidents. The latest data date from 2015. At that time, there were 35 cases of hunting accidents.
On February 20, a hunting accident in the Cantal, France, in which a hiker was killed, reopened the debate on hunting. A 17-year-old girl was charged with “involuntary manslaughter” after she was shot while hunting wild boar. Accidents involving hunting are recorded by the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB). In 2021, 80 accidents occurred throughout France, including 7 fatal. Most victims were hunters (86%).
The OFB distinguishes 4 main causes of hunting accidents: non-compliance with the 30° angle within which the hunter is allowed to shoot, shooting without identifying the animal (recognizing the animal before aiming), self-accidents and shooting in the direction of roads or houses.
Bad statistics in Wallonia
In Belgium, statistics on hunting accidents are rare and difficult to find. The latest figures published in the press date from 2015. The former Walloon Minister of Agriculture and Countryside, René Collin (cdH) stated, on the basis of the registers of the Royal Saint-Hubert Club, that there were 35 cases of hunting accidents and that in only 5 cases the cause was a bullet splinter. “In most hunting accidents, hunters are attacked by an animal during the hunt. The game gets scared and hits the tracker,” explains Benoît Petit, president of the Royal Saint-Hubert Club of Belgium. This was the case in 25 of the 35 accidents registered in 2015. Between 2005 and 2015, only one fatal accident occurred. “We don’t have official figures on hunting accidents. Since hunting is a sport, incidents during hunting parties are incidents in a private setting. The organizers therefore do not necessarily warn that there has been an incident. Often these are not so serious that they have to go to the emergency room. Then the concept of hunting accident is broad, a hunter who sprains an ankle during a hunt can be considered an incident,” continues Benoît Petit. “There hasn’t been an accident for a long time. This is a situation we are happy about.
