Hunting: an investigation opened following the broadcast of a video where a child is encouraged to finish off a boar

An investigation was opened in Châlons-en-Champagne, in particular for “provocation of a minor to the commission of an offense” and “moral abandonment of a minor”, following the broadcast of a video showing a child finishing off a wild boar. , encouraged by a hunter, we learned from the prosecution.

The public prosecutor of Châlons-en-Champagne, Ombeline Mahuzier, explained to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that she had “opened a flagrant investigation” for these two offences, as well as for “act of cruelty to an animal”. The investigation was entrusted to the gendarmerie and the information “transmitted to the children’s judge for educational assistance”she clarified.

The hunter “makes the suffering of the boar last”

The naturalist Pierre Rigaux, founder of the association Nos Viventia (“We the living”), shared the video on social networks on Monday, in a blurred version, announcing the filing of a complaint. The accused hunter “had himself published it on his Facebook account” on November 22, before “delete it quickly”explained Mr. Rigaux to AFP. “It’s a very violent scene”showing “an end of the hunt”where a boar, “Caught up by the dogs and cornered, tries to take refuge” in brambles, described the naturalist. “The hunter and father of the child films the scene. » On the pictures, “the child holds a knife, and the father insists heavily that his son go and stab the boar, or ‘sting’ it, as he puts it”he continued.

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“In this kind of hunting, the hunter finishes off the animal with a bladed weapon when he cannot do so with a gun. Except that there, he asks his son, who looks to be 10 or 12 years old., explains Mr. Rigaux. The little boy “seems to have trouble”and carries awkwardly “several stab wounds”, he says. The hunter “Thus prolongs the suffering of the boar”while the child “could have hurt himself”.

The Penal Code “punishes acts of cruelty only to animals in captivity, domesticated or tamed”. In this situation, “as he is captured and the agony lasts”, “the notion of captivity could be retained”said Mr. Rigaux.

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The World with AFP