A French hunter who shot dead a man he mistook for a wild boar has been sentenced to two years in prison. In the meantime, the French government has further tightened the hunting rules.
Julien Féral, 35, who had only held a hunting license for four months before the incident, has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He had told the judge he had mistaken 25-year-old Morgan Keane for a wild boar when he shot and killed him in southwestern France in December 2020. Many French people were outraged by the young man’s death and called for strict rules for hunters.
Keane died after a bullet pierced his chest while cutting wood on his property near Calvignac, a village in the Lot region of southwestern France. He and his brother moved to the remote site overlooking the River Lot after their father’s death in 2019.
Punishment
The judge sentenced Féral to a suspended prison sentence of two years and a lifelong hunting ban. Laurent Lapergue (51), the man who led the hunt, also received an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a lifelong hunting ban. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but denied responsibility.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the incident,” Féral testified in court. “This has marked me for life. I am so sorry”. He had admitted that he had misidentified the target. Féral said he went hunting “to clear his mind” after his young daughter was killed in a traffic incident.
The French government announced on Monday that it will further tighten rules against hunting under the influence of drugs and alcohol, strengthen training and safety requirements and introduce digital systems to warn people about areas where hunting is active. In France, there are about 1.1 million active hunters. About 5 million people have a hunting license.
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