French Hunter Gets Suspended Sentence for Killing Protected Bear

An 81-year-old hunter in southern France has been handed a four-month suspended prison sentence and fined €750 for fatally shooting a protected brown bear in the Pyrenees during a 2021 boar hunt.

The man claimed he acted in self-defence when the 150kg female bear, known as Caramelles, attacked him after her cubs appeared near the hunting party. He described being dragged and bitten before shooting the bear in a panic.

The Foix Criminal Court heard that the group of 16 hunters was 1,300 feet outside the authorised hunting zone in the Mont Valier nature reserve near Seix, Ariège. Prosecutors said the group should not have been in the area, while defence lawyers argued there were no signs indicating hunting was prohibited.

In addition to the main defendant’s sentence, the remaining 15 hunters were fined and ordered to jointly pay over €60,000 in damages to environmental organisations that brought a civil case.

Caramelles has since been preserved through taxidermy and is now displayed at the Toulouse Natural History Museum.

Environmental group Pays de l’Ours welcomed the ruling. “All the hunters were found guilty, which is the most important thing for us,” said the group’s president, Sabine Matraire, adding that she hoped it would raise awareness among hunters.

Brown bears in the Pyrenees were nearly extinct in the mid-20th century, but their population has been slowly recovering thanks to conservation efforts. About 96 bears now roam the mountain range, according to the French Office for Biodiversity.