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In order to limit the number of accidents in the forest, the government is considering the implementation of a certain number of safety rules, including blood alcohol controls.
Cyclists who receive weights in Maine-et-Loire. A resident of Châteaubourg injured by three pellets in Ille-et-Vilaine. Hunting accidents are on the increase in France and continue to make the headlines. To limit these tragedies, the government is thinking of establishing a “alcohol offense“, forcing hunters to scrupulously monitor their consumption.
0.5 g of alcohol per liter of blood
According to Le Parisien, it is Bérangère Couillard, the Secretary of State in charge of Ecology, who is at the origin of this strong measure.
If passed, hunters will have to limit their alcohol consumption – i.e. a maximum level of 0.5 g of alcohol per liter of blood (or a blood alcohol level greater than or equal to 0.2 g /l of blood on probationary license). This would be equivalent to the alcohol level not to be exceeded on the road.
Important fact: the ban would also apply inside private forests.
The Senate has already shown itself in favor
In mid-September, a report from the Senate on securing hunting (comprising around thirty proposals, including a ban on the consumption of alcohol and narcotics during this activity) had already moved the debate forward.
If accepted, the implementation of this measure will however require some adjustments.
“The whole issue will be in the means given for the controls. There are only 300 agents for the whole territory at the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB). As for the gendarmerie, this is not its primary mission“, had thus recalled Daniel Salmon, senator of Ille-et-Vilaine. `
A project, which is not to the liking of the president of the National Federation of Hunters, Willy Schraen.
According to him, alcohol is only involved in “7% of hunting accidents (9% according to a Senate report), much less than on the road”. “What right do you have to reserve that for hunters, a drunk guy on a bike is dangerous too“, he proclaimed to AFP, before adding that today the hunters are “stigmatized, humiliated, persecuted“.
Claims that will not prevent Bérangère Couillard from presenting the new safety rules surrounding the practice of hunting at the end of October.