After several months of consultations, the government will unveil its announcements on hunting on Monday, in order to better secure the practice to reduce the number of accidents. Among the measures that should be announced, the deployment of a smartphone application for walkers, on which hunters will be listed in real time.
This application, called “Suricate”, already exists, indicates Le Figaro. Launched in 2014 by the Ministry of Sports, it is available on the Apple Store and Google Play. This is a collaborative mobile app that allows users to report problems encountered on their journey during sports or leisure activities, such as “a source of pollution, a conflict of use, incorrect signage or even a defective equipment”, is it specified on the Internet page “Meerkat, nature sports sentinels”.
How it works ?
Once the application is loaded on your smartphone, you must first report the location of the problem by validating its GPS coordinates. It is then necessary to fill in several pieces of information, indicating in particular the activity concerned (rowing, horse riding, climbing, etc.), the type of problem and its extent. Then enter their email address, and describe in a few words the difficulty encountered and add a photo.
The information is then transmitted to the Suricate network, made up of 700 referents distributed throughout the territory. They are “from local authorities, sports federations, state services and managers of natural areas, and are responsible for resolving reported anomalies”. The application does not include for the moment the mention of the practice of “hunting”. But within a few months, the tool could have new functionalities to allow hunters to be geolocated.
“An app? It’s a joke”
The announcement of this measure made elected environmentalists jump. “Really, Le Gorafi, you are totally overwhelmed by reality,” reacted Sandra Regol, deputy national secretary of Europe Ecology The Greens (EELV). “The victims gathered in ‘One Day a Hunter’ must enjoy,” she added. “An app? It’s a joke, ”added the elected EELV Sandrine Rousseau, in favor of a ban. “I hope it’s a mistake,” said the head of the green group in the Senate, Guillaume Gontard, calling on Bérangère Couillard, Secretary of State to the Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion. in charge of Ecology. “Everyone knows the random nature of this type of application which gives a false idea of security and is ultimately dangerous. If you listened to the French? Eight out of 10 are in favor of banning hunting on Sundays,” he added.
On the side of hunters too, this application is far from unanimous. Willy Schraen, the president of the National Federation of Hunters, considers this idea “ridiculous”. “We must rather make an application where the territories without hunting are mapped. A cartography is different from an application, especially when half of the rural territory is not even covered by the Internet, ”explained to France Info the boss of the hunters.