"Hunters are the target of brutal media treatment" deplores the FNC

Romain Desarbres edited by Wassila Belhacine 2:31 p.m., February 21, 2022

Should weekend hunting be banned?

The death of a 25-year-old hiker, accidentally killed by a 17-year-old hunter, revives the debate.

Questioned by Europe 1, Willy Scharen, president of the National Federation of Hunters (FNC), considers that this practice is the "target of anti-hunting" and announces the holding, between the presidential and legislative elections, "of a major seminar on safety and sharing of nature."

The president of the FNC also opposes the idea of ​​a French hunting exception on the question of non-hunting days: "there are a majority of countries where there are no non-hunting days hunting. The history of France is a bit special with hunting. It's very popular, hunting is an achievement of the revolution, so it's a practice that has remained very open, accessible to as many people as possible."

According to Willy Scharen, the practice of hunting is not very frequent among hunters: "on average, hunters hunt about ten days a year. Obviously, things have changed. 20 or 30 years ago, very few people walked in nature, now it is a more common practice," he explains.

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Division by five of the number of accidents 

"Each accident is a tragedy and I cannot imagine the state of the family of this 25-year-old young woman who killed herself in the woods. Nevertheless, we have divided the number of accidents by five. We are working on this question,” he notes. 

In order to continue the work started, the president of the FNC announces the holding of "a major seminar on safety and sharing of nature with all the outdoor federations which practice leisure activities in the great outdoors."

If each death is one death too many according to the man, he still believes that hunters are the target of "brutal" media treatment.

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An "incredible hypocrisy" for the Hunters' Federation

"There are still lots of people who are killed by others inadvertently. And it does not make the headlines as it can when a hunter is concerned" he analyzes.

He insists on the desire to find a solution in order to limit the risk of accident, even if "zero risk does not exist. I am not a machine" he specified.

Willy Scharen said he was ready for discussion "except with Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who only have one thing in mind, which is to stop hunting. Instead, I will discuss with the other users of nature, with intelligent people with whom we can build something" he concludes.