Last November, a 70-year-old hunter was seriously injured in the femoral artery following the bite of a female bear he had shot.
He was taking part in a wild boar hunt when he crossed paths with this female who was with her two cubs in the Couserans massif, in Ariège.
On Wednesday, three hunters, including the shooter, were taken into custody at the Saint-Girons gendarmerie as part of the investigation into this case, according to information from
La Dépêche
.
Call to protest on Friday
According to Jean-Luc Fernandez, president of the departmental hunting federation, three other participants in the hunt were heard on Thursday and two others are to be heard on Friday.
He sees it as "a relentlessness".
A call to demonstrate Friday in front of the gendarmerie was also launched on social networks.
“We denounce the violence that has been poured out on this man for six months, the violence of this hearing.
We accept it.
He walks with canes, he has been operated on several times, and he is questioned from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., ”denounced the representative of the hunters.
The shooter should not have hunted in this area
The investigators must determine the course of the facts, but also if the hunters were authorized to be in this zone.
The Foix public prosecutor's office had opened a judicial investigation shortly after the facts for "destruction of a protected species" and "illegal hunting in a reserve".
The first elements of the investigation had shown that the shooter should not have been in this part of the Mont Valier state reserve, an area managed by the National Forestry Office.
Planet
Pyrenees: A bear drags its paw, associations want it to be treated
Planet
Pyrenees: Last year, 70 bears were counted in the massif, including 15 cubs
Planet
Toulouse
Bear
Hunters
Jail
Occitania