A new phenomenon .. Germans do not trust slaughterhouse meat and go back to the time of hunting with their own hands
Shanna Rise's external appearance does not suggest that she is a hunter, but what distinguishes this young German is that she is keen to eat only wild game meat that she has hunted herself, so that she is confident of its source, as an increasing number of her compatriots are.
"It's very important for me to know where my meat comes from," says the 28-year-old, who wears nose earrings and braids her hair in African-style dreadlocks.
Shanna Rice, a winegrower in the town of Azbesheim near Mainz (central West Germany), adopted a vegetarian diet for 10 years before she started eating meat after obtaining a hunting permit.
Hunting licenses are increasingly popular in Germany, where 3.5 million heads of cows are slaughtered annually.
The already bad reputation of this sector has been further damaged during the Covid-19 pandemic due to the outbreaks of infections in slaughterhouses, especially among the workers of the leading company "Tunis" in this field.
These events exposed disgraceful working conditions for foreigners subcontracting to sector companies that provide low-cost meat.
"People say they don't want to consume this type of meat anymore," said Nikolai Rommig, 47, a schoolteacher in Offenbach (central), who loves to fish in her spare time.
With the help of a friend who specializes in cured meats, Romig prepares several types of meat from the game that she hunts, such as ground beef, sausages, liver patties or broiler steaks.
Another fishing enthusiast is Ulf Greter, 55, who makes sausages and sells all of his sausage "before it's even finished."
More licenses
The idea of consuming bushmeat hunted by hunters has become increasingly popular among Germans, according to the National Hunting Union (Jagdverband), which counted at the end of the year 2020 about “390,000” practicing this hobby, “which is 25% more than it was 30 years ago. ', according to union spokeswoman Anna Martinzon.
19,000 candidates applied for a hunting permit last year in Germany and 80% were accepted, "double the number 10 years ago," Martinzon said.
These novice hunters seek to understand "how the forest, the fields and the animals interact", says Alexander Bolvers, director of a hunting school in Emsland in Lower Saxony (North) that grants more than 600 licenses a year.
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Active on social media, Shana Rise seeks to "take the hunt out of its shell" and give it a less cruel image.
"It is also a matter of focusing on bio-habitats and discussing with farmers about the forest economy," says the young woman, who has more than 20,000 followers on "Instagram".
Brothers Paul, 25, and Gerold, 22, share their passion for fishing with their more than 30,000 followers on Facebook.
However, their publications also received harsh criticism.
"Killing an animal has absolutely nothing to do with respect for its life. There is no rationale for hunting," says Sandra Franz, a spokeswoman for Animal Rights Watch.
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