The naturalist Pierre Rigaux broadcast a controversial video on social networks on Tuesday, on a hunting trip in the Marne.

We see a child of about ten years old, encouraged by his father to finish off a boar cornered with a knife, relays France Bleu.

“Stick it in the heart,” the adult declares, prompting his son to stab the distressed animal amid thickets and a pack of dogs.

The child, blade in hand, stumbles in the brambles before attacking the boar.

But the latter, still alive, screams in pain and struggles, dying.

"It's a difficult scene to watch," says the founder of the Nos Viventia association in the video shared on Facebook.

The activist explains that it is customary to finish off a wounded animal during hunting parties, but the killing must be quick.

A complaint that may not succeed

Pierre Rigaux has therefore decided to file a complaint for "act of cruelty" with the judicial court of Châlons-en-Champagne.

But this procedure could not succeed, because the killing of wild boar in this case falls under the Environmental Code.

“Serving an animal, that is to say finishing off a wounded animal, does not constitute an act of hunting”, specifies to France 3 Grand Est Jacky Desbrosse, president of the departmental federation of hunters of the Marne. .

However, the Environmental Code does not specify the duration of the killing, nor the age of its author.

The father assumes "until the end"

In addition, Pierre Rigaux plans to make a report to the Cell of collection of worrying information of the Departmental Council of the Marne.

He believes that the little boy was not safe.

"It's dangerous to give a knife to a child, to tell him to approach among the dogs in the brambles, against a wild boar which is obviously fighting for its survival", he declares in his video.

Asked by

L'Union

, the father of the child defends himself and evokes a family "tradition".

He assures that it was his son himself who wanted to take his first boar.

The animal being cornered and wounded, it was urgent according to him to complete it.

"We did it and not for fun, but also for the good of the animal," said the farmer from Marne.

“I assume until the end”, he concludes.

Miscellaneous facts

Gard: A boar's head placed on a bench, an association protests

Miscellaneous facts

Oise: A hunter seriously injured by a gunshot during a wild boar hunt

  • Marl

  • Great East

  • Hunt

  • Video

  • Wild boar

  • Animal cruelty