French Hunter Receives Suspended Sentence for Endangered Bear Killing

In a significant legal resolution, a French court has imposed a four-month suspended prison term on an 81-year-old hunter who fatally shot a protected brown bear during a hunting outing in the Pyrenees mountains in 2021. The hunter insists that he acted in self-defense as the bear attacked him while he was hunting boars. Alongside him, fifteen other hunters have been fined a total of over €60,000 in damages to ecological organizations due to their involvement in the incident.

The bear, a 150 kg female known as Caramelles, now stands preserved in the Toulouse Natural History Museum after being mounted. The incident occurred when the hunters, which included the elderly man, were startled by the bear and her cubs. In a tense moment recounted at the trial, the hunter stated, “She grabbed my left thigh, I panicked and fired a shot.” Prosecutors argued that the group was hunting outside an authorized area, as they were 1,300ft from the designated zone, contributing to the gravity of the offense.

Defensive counsel criticized the lack of signage indicating the prohibition of hunting in that area. The convicted hunter was fined €750, faced confiscation of his firearm, and had his hunting license revoked. The president of the bear-preservation group Pays de l'ours expressed satisfaction with the ruling and emphasized the importance of raising awareness about hunting regulations among the community. Following a historical decline in bear populations, efforts to protect and increase their numbers have seen some success, with the current estimated population in the region reaching approximately 96.