Hunting accidents over the last season caused the death of six people, including no non-hunters, according to the report published on Wednesday by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), which welcomes the “lasting effect” of the security efforts made over the past twenty years.
The annual hunting accident report for the 2022-2023 season recorded 78 accidents (“any bodily injury caused by a firearm in the context of a hunting action”), including six fatalities, according to the OFB , which specifies that “the 6 victims were hunters”. These figures confirm a maintenance at “historically low” levels of hunting accidents: 90 accidents, including 8 fatalities, had been recorded in 2021-2022, and 80 accidents, including 7 fatalities the previous season.
But the presence of three non-hunters among the victims of the two previous seasons had put hunting back at the heart of public debate, especially during the last presidential campaign when left-wing candidates called for it to be banned during weekends and holidays.
80% reduction in fatal accidents
The figures for the past year “are in line with the trend of the last twenty years, which are characterized by a drop of 80% in fatal accidents and 62% in accidents”, notes the OFB. From 2001 to 2010, the number of accidents fluctuated between 146 and 203 per season, including 15 to 31 fatalities.
The number of incidents (“a situation likely to have endangered people or property”, for example shooting at homes or pets) is also down: 84 were recorded during the season. against 104 the previous year, caused “almost systematically” by “a breach of essential safety rules”, writes the OFB.
“The efforts made over the past two decades by hunters (changes in practices, increased vigilance), by federations (training, awareness, controls), by their partners (dialogue around security issues), by the State and the OFB (examination of the hunting license, control, communication media, recent legislative and regulatory changes, hunting safety plan being deployed) seem to have a lasting effect on hunting accidents,” says the Office.
The OFB notes that the decline in the number of accidents comes at a time when “the most accident-prone hunting method”, namely “big game harvesting”, is experiencing “a very strong increase” over the past season, “with more of 1,500,000 animals sampled, including 800,000 wild boars”, an increase of more than 50% in twenty years.